National African American Jazz Legacy Museum

The African American Jazz Legacy Museum (NAAJLM) was founded in 2016 and has been searching for a permanent home since. The museum seeks to be a cultural resource for Oklahoma City and the state through research, music instruction, education, community outreach, performance, and the presentation of jazz from all 50 states. Since 2020, stakeholders with the National African American Jazz Legacy Museum (NAAJLM) Committee have collaborated with the University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture, Division of Interior Design, to develop concept for a museum in Oklahoma City. Two Interior Design studios have explored concepts that work within existing structures in Oklahoma City.

About Jazz
Jazz has its origins in Africa and the belly of the slave ships that came to America. Jazz music was developed in the United States by descendants of formerly enslaved Africans. New Orleans was an important epicenter of the music, but other urban areas such as Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Dallas, Kansas City, and Chicago were important in the early development of the music that is now treasured and respected around the world as one of the great musical art forms. The music became more mainstream in the early 20th century with several other varieties of music developing as well. Early jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis were all pioneers in this development. Jimmy Rushing and Charlie Christian were included in this early movement establishing jazz in Oklahoma.

Project Outline
Working with select NAAJLM Committee members, the interior design students at the University of Oklahoma used this project as a service-learning opportunity in which students would provide interior design recommendations to help the committee envision what the museum could be, looking specifically at the First Christian Church in Oklahoma City as a potential site. Working collaboratively in 10 different teams, students developed separate design proposals, each addressing:
• Performance spaces, pre-function, recording studios
• Education, offices, practice studios, and broadcast studio
• Museum, retail, and food services

This report details a collaboration between the Gibbs College of Architecture and the National African American Jazz Legacy Museum to explore interior design concepts for utilizing the former First Christian Church in Oklahoma City.