Obama museum tickets on sale Wednesday, May 6

Timed, dated tickets to the museum at the Obama Presidential Center go on sale at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 6, at obama.org/visit/museum-tickets.

Given the interest in the museum and high demands for tickets, visitors should expect a lengthy wait when the queue opens, although spots in the electronic line are saved. Visitors may purchase up to nine tickets for the museum, which officially opens on June 19. Prospective visitors are advised to have alternate dates and times in mind in case their first choice is unavailable.

Tickets are $15-$26 for Illinois residents, $23-$30 for nonresidents, and free for kids 2 and younger.

Illinois residents can also reserve free museum admission for the Illinois Free Days on Tuesdays. Only museum entry requires a ticket, all other areas of the 19.3-acre campus are accessible for free.

The Obama Presidential Center promises to be one of the Chicago area’s most popular cultural attractions. Located in Jackson Park at 6001 S. Stoney Island Ave., Chicago, the center’s focal point includes a monolith-style museum. In addition to exhibits chronicling the lives of President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, the challenges they faced and the legacy they continue to shape, the museum includes a review of the historic 2008 election and the everyday citizens who helped make victory possible along with a replica of the Oval Office.

The Forum community space consists of the Elie Wiesel Auditorium, named for the writer, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor, as well as the Hadiya Pendleton Atrium, named after the 15-year-old girl shot to death at a park near the Obama home a week after she performed for Obama’s second inauguration.

The campus is also home to a 60,000-square-foot athletic and event space; a Chicago Public Library branch; a playground; a park space named for the late civil rights activist and U.S. Congressman John Lewis; and a garden named for Eleanor Roosevelt.

“The Obama Presidential Center is about the everyday people who make our democracy work, not just those we see in the headlines,” said CEO Valerie Jarrett in a prepared statement. “As President Obama said: ‘It is easy to look around right now and feel like the challenges we face are simply too big. But hope is not about ignoring the hard stuff. It is that thing inside us that insists something better awaits if we are willing to work for it. That is the spirit of the Obama Presidential Center.’”