The Bob Dylan Center, located in downtown Tulsa, showcases the life and works of the prolific American singer-songwriter. The museum opened in May 2022 following the purchase of Dylan’s archive to the George Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Tulsa.
Steven Jenkins, the museum’s director, spent extensive time in the San Francisco Bay area before taking on this role, serving in leadership positions at the University of California Press, the San Francisco Film Society, the Film Arts Foundation and the Ansel Adams Center for Photography. He is also an arts journalist, contributing articles to publications including New York Magazine, Out, and Publishers Weekly. We caught up with Jenkins and got his thoughts on …
… what motivated him to move from San Francisco for the job.
I’ve been a devoted, often obsessed, Bob Dylan fan since I was quite young, having discovered his first Greatest Hits album in my mom’s record collection (she had great taste) as a precocious six-year-old, already heavily into The Beatles and The Beach Boys. I didn’t understand the songs back then, but I was captivated by Dylan’s voice and by the colorful and iconic Milton Glaser poster that was included with the album, which my encouraging dad tacked up on my bedroom wall. Dylan looked down at me and infiltrated my dreams, and his music has been lodged in my consciousness and influenced my worldview ever since.
When the George Kaiser Family Foundation acquired the Bob Dylan Archive in 2016, I knew that I would visit as soon as the materials were made available to the public, but at the time had no clue that I’d end up joining the team. Some five years later, I learned of the imminent opening of the Bob Dylan Center (in May 2022), met the amazing folks behind the project and was offered the job of a lifetime, one which combines all of my personal interests and professional experience as an avid listener and veteran of the nonprofit arts field. Joined by my husband Jorge and our dog Rocco, I bid farewell to San Francisco after nearly four decades and drove out to Tulsa, mythical stomping grounds of Ponyboy and Motorcycle Boy – S.E. Hinton also had much to do with my adolescent dreaming – and now our friendly new home.
… his proudest accomplishments to date.
I hope that we’re doing full justice to Dylan’s multiplicity by presenting his life’s work within the sociopolitical contexts that have informed his songs and that he, in turn, has shaped. I’m pleased that we focus on Dylan’s creative process, asking how this one extraordinary artist does what he does to such a high degree of skill, beauty, fierceness and cultural impact. By considering Dylan as an exemplar of fearless creativity, we’ve made room for the art and music of kindred spirits such as Elvis Costello, Shane MacGowan, Patti Smith and Mavis Staples. I also like to see students visit the Center and witness their sparks of inspiration and recognition as they start to “get” Dylan as an iconoclast and tap into their own creative instincts.
… his favorite elements of the Center.
We have a letter written by Johnny Cash to Dylan that is filled with wordplay and an obvious mutual admiration, and a film of Dylan and his band performing “Cold Irons Bound” that I can’t get enough of.
… what he wants people to know about the Center.
You don’t have to be a lifelong fan or even a casual follower to enjoy the Center; there’s so much here that speaks not only to the specifics of Dylan’s career but also to the creative process in a much larger sense. Also, Dylan’s very funny!
…upcoming developments.
We’re planning some very special events for 2025, including a multi-artist concert celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Dylan’s masterpiece Blood on the Tracks and a tribute to the Oklahoma-born musician Jesse Ed Davis. We’re also looking forward to the release of the Complete Unknown biopic with Timothée Chalamet, which should serve to introduce Dylan to new generations of fans who hopefully will be inspired to make the pilgrimage out here.
… what makes Dylan such a special artist to him.
There’s a line in his song “Thunder on the Mountain” that I love: “Look into my heart and you will sort of understand.” It’s the “sort of” – the ambiguity, the fundamental unknowingness, the wide open space for interpretation, emotion and expression – that brings me back to the music and the artist every day.
… where he’ll find him in his off hours.
Lunching at Chimera in the Arts District, strolling through the galleries and gardens at the Philbrook Museum, seeing films at Circle Cinema, up front for concerts at Cain’s Ballroom, and living on Tulsa time in our midtown backyard.
