The Obama Presidential Center is preparing for a moment decades in the making, and the celebration is shaping up to match the scale of the milestone. Just ahead of the center’s public opening on Juneteenth, former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama welcomed nearly 500 supporters and contributors to the Chicago campus on Tuesday for a heartfelt thank-you gathering.

For the Obamas, the project carries deep personal meaning. “For us to be able to give back to this community is really important to us,” the former president told the crowd, crediting the dedication, talent, and problem-solving of everyone who helped bring the vision to life.

A Headline-Worthy Dedication Lineup

On the same day as the reception, the Obama Foundation revealed the lineup for Thursday’s dedication ceremony — and it reads like a who’s who of the music world. The event will be livestreamed beginning at 11 a.m. Thursday at obama.org and across the foundation’s social media channels.

The roster of performers spans genres and generations, including:

• Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, and John Legend
• Christina Aguilera, Tems, and Marc Anthony
• The Roots, along with U2’s Bono and The Edge
• Chicago natives Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Vedder, and Common
• Actress Marsai Martin

The hometown presence is fitting for a center rooted so firmly in Chicago’s South Side.

Michelle Obama’s Emotional Reflection

For Michelle Obama, touring the finished museum for the first time stirred memories of growing up in a city that often felt closed off to her. She described walking into the completed space and witnessing the artistry, love, and care poured into a center she hopes will change the trajectory of the young people raised in the community she calls home.

Her remarks turned deeply personal as she reflected on what the South Side had lacked during her childhood. She spoke of finally seeing a safe lagoon where children play and couples stroll, beauty that simply wasn’t accessible to her growing up. Much of the area, she recalled, had been boarded up, neglected, and starved of investment — sending a painful message to kids like her that they weren’t worth investing in.

Accessing beautiful parks, art, and museums once meant traveling downtown into spaces that, as she put it, sometimes treated her as though she didn’t belong. “And now we have this,” she said, before thanking her husband for doing this for the South Side of Chicago.

Honoring the People Behind the Project

The Tuesday reception was, at its core, an act of gratitude. The crowd brought together a cross-section of those who made the campus possible — landscapers, philanthropic leaders, artists, and both current and former city officials.

Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett framed the event as a way to recognize the many hands involved in creating, designing, building, and shaping the center, including community members who offered feedback along the way. With so many components woven into the complex campus, she said, the foundation had sought out the best people it could find — and the natural next step, once the work was done, was simply to say thank you.

Voices From the Community

Several attendees shared what the center means to them personally, offering a window into its impact beyond the headlines.

Monica Haslip, founder of the nonprofit Little Black Pearl, knew the Obamas before their rise to national prominence. She has hosted lunches for foundation events, is supplying cold-pressed juices for the campus cafe, and helped nurture artists whose work now appears throughout the grounds. Looking around, she described seeing love and thoughtfulness in every detail. “Everybody can see a little bit of themselves,” she said. “I’m over the moon. I’m very proud.”

Public artist Sam Kirk, who created the “Pass It Forward” Home Court mural with fellow South Side artist Dorian Sylvain, spoke of feeling overwhelmed with joy and excitement at the thought of kids playing ball in the space. For Kirk, the center delivers something invaluable to young people: access to outstanding art made by living, local artists, alongside beautiful green space.

Accessibility was woven into the project as well. Members of the team that provided American Sign Language translation for the museum’s video displays attended the reception. Jeremy Lee Stone, an ASL educator who interpreted Obama’s voiceovers, described the challenge of conveying the same spirit and vision through gesture, working with consultants to ensure the message landed. Andrea Sonnier, who translated the museum’s music into ASL, called it the honor of a lifetime to take part as a Black deaf interpreter.

A Tribute to Salt-of-the-Earth Values

The evening also carried a tender note of remembrance. Michelle Obama wore a skirt emblazoned with a photo of her late mother, Marian Robinson, and the former president told the crowd he was reminded of both Marian and her late husband, Fraser Robinson.

He praised them as embodying the best of the country’s values — people who refused to cut corners, who treated everyone with respect and kindness, and who simply handled their business. “Just salt of the earth, bedrock people,” he said.

Obama used the moment to make a broader point about the nation. He lamented that voices like the Robinsons’ too often go unheard amid institutions that have, in his words, fallen for the idea that everything is about money, attention, and fame. Part of what the center is meant to be, he said, is a reminder of those quietly principled people and a call to keep the country true to their spirit.

A New Chapter for the South Side

As the dedication approaches, the mood among those who built and championed the center is one of pride and possibility. For a community that long felt overlooked, the campus stands as tangible proof of investment, beauty, and belonging.

With a star-filled ceremony on the horizon and the doors set to open to the public, the Obama Presidential Center is poised to become exactly what its founders envisioned: a gathering place rooted in resilience, courage, and hope — and a lasting gift to the South Side of Chicago.