On July 8, 1998, the leaders of the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress joined with the Federal City Council's President, former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, to announce plans to explore the feasibility of developing the National Music Museum in the heart of downtown Washington. The Federal City Council is a private, nonprofit organization that works for the improvement of the Nation's Capital. Subsequent to the July 1998 announcement, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts joined the project, hoping to develop a major performing arts theater in downtown Washington.From the outset the Music Museum will be designed to attract both visitors to the Nation's Capital and residents of the Washington area, offering compelling, engaging and interactive experiences. Exhibits and public programs will be developed to explain and interpret our country's extraordinary musical heritage, telling America's singular story through its music.
