Designing and building this museum was a formidable process, requiring my construction (hard) hat, diplomacy hat working with artists and labels, analytical hat to process lots of data, creative cap to tell a story in unique and engaging ways, and more. But the exact artifacts we would collect left me scratching my head… where to start?

We knew we would seek out some iconic pieces from our industry’s history. But we also put out a call to the entire industry, asking for artifacts we could consider.

The very first call we received was from the energetic trio, The Martins. They had appeared on a couple of the Dove Award shows I produced in the ‘00’s and were always a favorite of mine to produce and also with fans to watch.

The Martins idea was to send us their very first cell phone! This bag-phone, big as a briefcase, kept them in touch from the road, back in the early 90’s. It is a slab of tech history, as well as road-touring lore.

I instantly realized that this would be a fun job. Piecing historical moments together through lyrics, instruments, old merch, tech and pics would be unpredictable and fascinating. And I love a good puzzle! We keep adding elements, but it will never tell the complete story…