The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles

The Grammy Museum is an educational museum dedicated to the history and winners of the Grammy Awards. It aims to inspire visitors to explore musical genres through interactive touch screens, videos, and music. The museum boasts an extensive collection of costumes, musical instruments, handwritten song lyrics, and archival footage.

If you lived in Los Angeles, you might have heard about the special events held at the Grammy Museum. Despite its significant impact on Southern California's music scene, it has been in existence for only 11 years.

History of the Grammy Museum

The Grammy Museum first opened its doors in 2008 during the 50th anniversary of the Grammy Awards. That year also coincided with the global financial crisis, which was hardly an ideal time for launching a museum. In a 2009 interview, Executive Director Robert Santelli acknowledged the challenges, noting that there had even been plans to reduce staff due to the financial difficulties.

It's impressive how the museum accommodates all the musical artifacts of history across its four floors, showcasing a variety of styles and genres side by side.

Features of the Grammy Museum

The Grammy Museum has become a major player in music preservation. The rare exhibits and films covering a fifty-year history are just a part of what the museum offers. Other items are dedicated to the history of music and culture, the art of sound recording, and the achievements of multiple generations of music creators.

Spanning four floors, the museum includes a special archive where musical recordings are stored. Several labels have chosen to place their collections here, as the museum has built a reputation for successfully safeguarding materials for the future.

This place is popular because its main goal is to educate visitors and allow them to learn more about the music and collections housed there.

What to See

The Grammy Museum offers numerous exhibits showcasing historical musical artifacts. It also hosts live performances, workshops, master classes, and musician meet-and-greets.

The Crossroads exhibit on the fourth floor features sensitive touch screens where you can view photos and listen to music from your favorite genres. Another interactive exhibit allows visitors to see six soundproof booths where famous performers and producers discuss various stages of creating commercial soundtracks. Here, you have the opportunity to record your own track, make a remix, or cover a pop song.

Current exhibitions include:

• "Michael Jackson: A Musical Legacy" — a memorial exhibition that opened following Jackson's death in June 2009. The display features selected artifacts from the musician's career during the time of his Thriller album. It includes Jackson's signature gloves, ornately decorated jackets, and items worn in the video for his hit song Thriller.
• "Roots, Rock, and the Music of Carlos Vives" — located on the third floor, this unique exhibition offers visitors a detailed look at the iconic career of the two-time Grammy winner Colombian singer Carlos Vives, who brought the sounds of his country's indigenous peoples into pop music.
• "Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Popular Music and the National Pastime" — this exhibit explores the intersection of baseball and music and is accompanied by discussions on the history of music in baseball, running until the fall of 2019.

The museum also features outfits from Grammy-awarded musicians such as Kanye West, Jennifer Lopez, and Rihanna.