The Museum of the Sixties

'If we build it, they will come.'

The Sixties was a decade of "Liberation" and "Revolution", a time of personal journeys and fiery protests. It transcended all national borders and changed the world. People, young and old, united in opposition to the existing dictates of society. We were living in fear: fear of the bomb, fear of sex, fear of communism, and fear of our own governments. We wanted to break free. The 60's were the result of that breakthrough.

The Sixties embodied a spirit of self-awareness and introspection. We sought truth, demanded justice, and found freedom in self-expression. We rejected the restrictions of a puritanical lifestyle. We sought out and embraced new philosophies. It was a moment in history when a mushroom explosion of consciousness began altering the life force. Through that explosion, we broke down the prison walls of "intellect as the ultimate". We focused on the heart, and by doing so, reopened our cookie jar of possibilities·politically, socially, sexually and spiritually. The effects of that explosion have permeated our culture.

We, as a generation, have a responsibility to see that the 60's are remembered in the context in which they unfolded. If a museum is to be built, we had better be the ones to build it. The Sixties Museum will chronicle the events of the era, so that our idealism can be passed on to future generations.

Location

Santa Fe, New Mexico is a fantastic place for our intent to be realized. Land is available at a nominal cost. The Sixties Museum will be built on an open piece of land surrounded by the natural beauty of deep blue skies, mountains, pinions, junipers and sage. Here, in the Land of Enchantment, close to Mother Nature, is where many people of the Î60s came to change their lives.

Board of Directors

Lisa Law: Executive Director

Jim Rubin: Attorney at Law

Dennis Hopper: Fine arts and film collection advisor

Jeff Kline: Educator, grant and media consultant

Steven Kalish: CEO Voxx Communications

Advisory Committee

John Paul DeJoria: CEO, John Paul Mitchell Systems

Peter Yarrow: Music and Civil Rights

Wavy Gravy: Counter culture, human rights committee, and special event coordinator

Graham Nash: Music and Anti Nuclear advisor

Ron Cooper: Visual arts advisor

Andrei Codrescu: National Public Radio commentator, Professor of English, LSU

Taj Mahal: History of black music

Sam Andrew: Big Brother and the Holding Company

Elaine Mikels: Protests, grass roots and radical left movements

Jim Wilson: Music producer/writer, Little World Band, Tulku, Audio display concepts

Mark French: First National Bank President

Marie Harding: President of Synergia Ranch, L.L.C.

David Amram: Composer, musician, and poet

Tom Pope: Brochures, Marketing, ads, posters, editor, and writer

Arlo Guthrie: Folk Music in the advisory list

Mark Spencer: Fine arts painter

Simone Ellis: Writer, Author

Concept

Let us create a place where people from all over the world can come and experience the artifacts, values and movements created during the Sixties. Children and grandchildren of Baby Boomers will finally be able to see, hear, touch and experience their parentsand grandparentsidealism. How much fun is that!

Classes about this era are being taught everywhere. The museum will act as a resource center for teachers and students, enabling them to study in an environment that embodies the 1960's vision and consciousness. It will demonstrate how the seeds of the Sixties were sewn, nurtured, and are now blooming as we enter the next millennium. Most importantly we will be the ones to choose the exhibits, fill the archives, define our vision, and tell our own stories.

Museums have important functions. The Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC helps to renew and maintain Jewish faith and culture. It also reminds us of unspeakable atrocities, so that we do not allow them to be repeated. The Rock and Roll Museum in Cleveland allows visitors to experience and understand artistic and cultural phenomena. The Museum of the Sixties will embody the energy that exploded out of our psyches and into the cosmos.

The Exhibits will chronicle:

Politics: The Civil Rights movement, political assassinations, the Vietnam War and the antiwar movement, the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society), Kent State, The Weatherman, the Diggers, the Provos, '60s politics in Europe and Asia, the New Left, the Black Panthers, and Women's Liberation.

Culture: Haight -Ashbury and Greenwich Village, music, fashion, textiles, photography, publications, comics, beat poetry, theater, films, radio, underground newspapers, bikers, Love-ins and Be-ins, the Fillmore and Avalon experiences, the Monterey Pop and Woodstock festivals.

Self-discovery: Native American values, Psychedelia, the hippie movement, the natural food movement, the beginnings of "alternative" medicine and rediscovery of traditional healing, the sexual revolution, spiritual awakening, and Back to the Land/communal living.

There will be art space with programs to demonstrate and understand the emergence of Art, Earth Art, Conceptual Art, Minimalism, Performance Art, Process Art, Pop Art, and Poster Art...all of which were serious developments and an integral part of the '60s.

On the grounds of the museum will be represented the architecture and living spaces used and designed during that time. There will be a tipi, yurt, geodesic dome, and a replica of New Buffalo Commune, originally built in Taos, New Mexico. Vegetable gardens, fruit trees, ponds, fountains and areas for contemplation will surround these facades. Examples of permaculture will be evident in all areas.

All buildings will be powered by solar energy (backed up with generators). Water will be supplied by wells. The septic system will be self-contained and will empty into wetlands. All washing ingredients will be biodegradable or compatible and all facilities will recycle. Hemp products will be used as often as possible.

There will be a performing arts center for musical, theatrical, and dance events encouraging the value of these avenues of entertainment. Film and video will be shown there as well. Movies of the era will be shown every night at the theater for those staying at the hotel. The performing arts space will include an outdoor amphitheater with seating for 10,000 or more people. The largest venue in Santa Fe at this time holds 2,500 people. Trees and natural vegetation will separate the buildings from the parking areas.

The structures will be environmentally friendly using no toxic products in the construction, with state of the art air-conditioning and heating. It will be totally and comfortably wheelchair accessible. We will be using skylights in as many rooms as possible with proper filters to protect the art below. The floor design will permit an easy flow of foot traffic.

In the future we plan on building a 200-room hotel and spa on the grounds. This structure will accommodate university and high school classes that will be studying in the Museum, as well as the general public. The hotel will have theme rooms, decorated with corresponding art and photos. There will be yoga and martial arts programs available, as well as a pool for relaxation and exercise. Trees will surround outdoor Jacuzzi tubs and saunas. Vegetation and flower gardens will be mainly indigenous plants of the Southwest. The hotel will also have an all organic vegetable and free range meat restaurant, a healthy snack bar, vegetarian restaurant and a juice bar promoting the values of You Are What You Eat.

Educational classes will be able to stay in the compound, giving them an opportunity to soak in the culture. It is our hope that this experience will open them to the limitless possibilities of their own creativity and expression.

The Museum

When people visit The Museum of the Sixties they will experience a happening, a virtual celebration and the spontaneous joy of a time of self-discovery.

At the hub of the museum, the hippie bus SILVER will sit in all her glory in her final resting-place. SILVER traveled across the country with Wavy Gravy and the Hog Farm. In 1968, owners Tom and Lisa Law rebuilt SILVER who is a 1947 Chevy flatbed. The bus has been fully restored since then and still runs.

The exhibition surrounding the bus will depict Silver's travels and the events she participated in as she traveled cross-country. All of these travels have been documented and will be shown in the installation.

There are many aspects of the Sixties; and each deserves its own exhibition space and/or interactive media experience. The exhibits will be in chronological order showing the emergence of each movement based on what transpired before it.

The exhibitions will include larger than life photos representing the subject matter, as well as smaller photos, artwork, examples of fashion, newspaper and magazine articles, and memorabilia. Subjects of great magnitude will demand larger exhibition space to include more interactive displays. Headphones and visual effects will be available to provide oral histories, music and/or speeches about the subject matter. As adjuncts to each of the exhibits, there will be films and documentaries shown on a continuous loop. One can enter and leave these rooms without disturbing others.

Our plan is to record oral histories from the people who formed the threads of the sixties before we all disincarnate and or lose our memory. (We had better hurry).

There will be a full library of all literature written during those years pertaining to the subjects mentioned. There will also be computer rooms for interactive CD ROM viewing. One will be able to select and enjoy a private, Sixties listening experience, via headphones, while relaxing in special lounge chairs.

Another display will show a four track-recording studio, similar to the kind used to record the Beatle'sAbby Road album.

In the psychedelic exhibition, thank you Timothy Leary, there will be a circular room with surround sound and bucket seats. The ceiling will display a liquid light show produced by the original liquid light show artists of the time. The show will incorporate slides and moving images. One will be able to naturally trip out on sound and light, without the help of mind-altering substances, as we did in the Sixties.

One wing of the Museum will house rotating shows of other museum collections pertaining to the era.

There will also be a book, poster, CD-ROM, music CD and video store selling items depicting the times, as well as a gift shop and an adjacent library.

A website will be developed to show a virtual depiction of the entire Museum and its contents. It will also announce special events and concerts. The website will provide a way for folks to learn about what we are collecting and how they can contribute. This site will also give learning centers a way to see exactly what the museum offers.

PLANNING PROPOSAL: APRIL 2001

Museum of the Sixties, a 501(c)(3), New Mexico non-profit, will collect and exhibit the artifacts and history of the cultural movement of "Love and Peace" known as the "Sixties."

In addition to the core Museum, there will be a performing arts center, conference center, hotel, gift shops, etc.

There are approximately 50 million living Americans who experienced the Sixties culture and who are now known as the "aging baby boomers." This population group is expected to visit the Museum, as will their children and grandchildren. Many people believe that the epoch of the Sixties was the most significant positive cultural event in the United States since the Independence movement in the 1770s.

The enormous interest in the Sixties and the relative wealth of many persons shaped by this era indicates that the Museum, Cultural Center and associated Conference Center, could sustain itself economically. With proper planning, the Museum should accurately reflect the intentions and dreams of the era.

Museum of the Sixties has already secured agreements from a variety of sources willing to donate their collections of Sixties memorabilia; such as photographs, art work, clothing, political posters, and associated rights and licenses. Land for the Museum is available in New Mexico.

The purpose of this proposal is to request funds to implement the planning process and deliver the preliminary Master Plan needed to acquire the necessary permits, funding, etc.

MASTER PLAN: This nine month planning process will result in a Master Plan that will define the scope of the Museum, the opportunities for ancillary and corollary projects, as well as timelines & mile stones for the projects phased development. It will explain how the Museum will be funded, where it will be located, how its programs will become financially self-sustaining.
1. The Master Plan will describe how the collections will be assembled, how merchandising and other fund raising mechanisms will be balanced within the Museum's educational mission, a public relations plan, and requirements for public hearings. An international design contest will yield three-dimensional models of proposed Museum exteriors and interiors and describe exhibition systems incorporating new technologies. A web site will also be created.
MISSION: The mission is to accurately display the dreams and visions of the popular cultural movement of the Sixties. These dreams and visions included world peace, civil rights, free expression, social justice, environmental harmony, respect and appreciation for native cultures, expansion of human consciousness, rejection of materialism, growth of communes, the seeds of the women's movement, and displays of universal human love.
SCOPE: A committee of planners, museum experts, and other folks with experience in designing and implementing large-scale educational and/or cultural events and/or institutions will initially base the scope of the project on recommendations. Definition of scope will allow all other aspects of the planning process to follow in logical order.
CURATION & CATALOGING & TECHNOLOGIES
FUNDING
SUSTAINABILITY
LOCATION
BALANCE of EDUCATION & MERCHANDISING
PROCEDURES - IMPLEMENTATION IN PHASES

PLANNING USING VOLUNTEER ADVISORY BOARDS:

Based on the vision of the Executive Director, noted '60s documentarian and photographer, Lisa Law: Board Members and Advisory Committees charged with specific objectives will meet in Santa Fe, New Mexico to discuss issues related to scope, location, funding, content, balance of educational missions with merchandising, etc.

Advisory Board members will include both veterans of the '60s and experts in museum curating, use of new technologies, civic officials, planners and others with experience in the design and implementation of museums, cultural facilities, universities and resorts.

These meetings will be structured to result in action plans for staff implementation. This planning process will commence in April 2002 and Phase I of the planning process will terminate in October of 2002 with:

1. The definition of the project's scope

2. Selection of a site

3. Preliminary exterior and interior designs

4. Criteria for curating

5. Systems for collection of artifacts

6. A funding plan for Phase II design

7. A funding plan for Phase III construction

8. A public relations, publicity and marketing plan

9. A funding plan for the sustainability of the museum based on merchandising, and integrated ancillary activities such as hotel, spa, conference center, demonstration gardens, solar energy demonstration, gift shops, Web based merchandising, etc.

10. A management plan for implementation of Phases II, III and IV.

11. An independent audit.

April - June 2002:

Lisa Law, Executive Director, with assistance from her associate director and project manager, will write up the issues that need to be defined. Staff will research experts in each field. Appropriate individuals and organizations will be contacted and invited to participate in each of the planning committees.

Initial planning committees include:

SCOPE: Scale and variety of programs to be offered - advise from, Smithsonian.

IMPACT & VISITATION: Evaluate potential number of visitors and determine their interests and needs. Evaluate impact of this visitation on surrounding communities.

LOCATION: Evaluation of potential sites-cost, accessibility, and aesthetics.

FUNDING: Create structures for accountability, fund raising strategies, private donor lists, foundations, direct mail, etc.

CONTENT: Lay out the kinds of information to be displayed and experienced: Music, Poetry, Literature, Art, Film Documentation/ Experience of major events, Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam experience, Beatnik-Hippie experience, "free love", Drugs, Eastern and Native American Spirituality, Communes, Back to Earth, etc.

MERCHANDISING: Role of merchandising/gift shops, licensed items, etc. to create sustainable income for Museum without jeopardizing its educational mission.

COLLECTIONS/CURATOR: Lists of artifacts, licenses, etc. desired. Plan for assembly cataloging of initial collections. Plan for warehousing of donated artifacts.

H. PUBLIC RELATIONS & PUBLICITY: Leaders from major PR, advertising and entertainment industries will be invited to recommend the benefits of a PR campaign, how to time it to each phase of the project to support project objectives, how to leverage free media.

July - September, 2002

Based on committee reports, an initial "program" will be written that will more clearly define all of the activities that will take place at the physical site. The program will define timelines and milestones to be achieved during the planning phase.

Recommendations from the Curators and Technology committees of the American Museums Association will be published.

October - December, 2002

SITE SELECTION: Land will be selected and optioned.

DESIGN CONTEST: The "program" will be distributed internationally to architects and designers- a major design contest will be held. The winning designs and runners-up will be displayed in Santa Fe.

BUDGETING: Budgets for detailed design and curation will be written.

CATALOGING & COLLECTION: Warehouse will be selected. Software will be selected. Artifacts will be solicited. Cataloging of pledged items (most of which will continue to remain in the possession of the donors until phase II) would begin.

FUND RAISING: A fund raising committee will be formed to raise the funds per the budget.

MERCHANDISING: Offers for merchandising, co-licensing, income-sharing arrangements will be sent to various music and artistic rights holders for items that could be licensed for the Museum's gift shop and for its sales over the Web.

Board Member Lisa Law:

Lisa Law has spent over four decades capturing the shifting tides of American culture on film. Her reputation is built on photographs, unique for their startling sense of intimacy and spontaneity. Her work has been published in more than 85 books and documentaries and countless magazines from Newsweek and People toVogue and Hemp Times. Her award winning documentary, Flashing on the Sixties: a Tribal Document, has been seen on Cinemax, The Discovery Channel and PBS, and is available on home video. Dennis Hopper describes it as, "The most compelling, moving documentary on the Sixties". Lumen Press of Santa Fe has published a collection of interviews from her documentary; a book entitled Interviews with Icons. The Smithsonian Museum of American History exhibited a show of her work in 1999 and now holds a 208 piece collection in its archives.

Lisa lives in New Mexico, overlooking the Sangre de Cristos and the Rio Grande in an off the grid house she helped design and build. In her spare time she tends to her vegetable garden, fruit trees and cats.

She is ready to realize our hopes and our dreams and direct the creation of the Museum of the Sixties.

Museum Proposal Acrobat PDF