Once completed, the museum will include interactive exhibits showcasing the creativity of Oklahomans and how that influence has spread into pop culture at-large, as well as a performance venue and recording and broadcasting studios.

The goal is to give historical context to these pieces of art and culture, which Blackburn thinks will set the museum apart.

“There’s a story behind the music, behind the literature, behind the illustration, behind the movies. That’s the story that’s going to make this a unique museum,” he said. “You can get the music and the movies and everything else online anymore, but where can you get the story behind the art to connect the dots?”

Notable Oklahomans to be featured in the museum are Woody Guthrie, Mary Kay Place, S.E. Hinton, Garth Brooks, Leon Russell and the country star who called the adjacent Cain’s Ballroom home, Bob Wills.

The museum, which is funded in part by a $25 million state bond, was initially slated for a lot near the Brady Theater in 2008. Plans then changed because of the recession, moving the museum to a parking lot near Archer Street and Boston Avenue used by Bank of Oklahoma employees.