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OKPOP Details Coming Monday

Tulsa's first look at the long-awaited Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture will be Monday.

Museum officials plan to unveil a rendering of the building, along with planned hours and their groundbreaking schedule.

We've talked about it as a collision of cultures and really a crossroads of creativity," said Jeff Moore, the museum's executive director. "We wanted all of that to flavor the design for the building, that local work ethic, the state motto of 'labor conquers all.' That will be reflected in the rendering we reveal."

The pop culture museum will showcase talent from hundreds of people from Oklahoma, including musicians, actors, writers, cartoonists and artists who've donated works. The Oklahoma Historical Society will receive $25 million from the state to build the museum and an adjacent parking garage. The funds will be matched by an initial private fundraising campaign to raise $15 million for exhibits and collections.

The museum will be placed in the Tulsa Arts District across from Cain's Ballroom, where concertgoers are likely to visit a facility holding the collections of Oklahoma musicians such as country music star Garth Brooks. That could lead the museum to have later hours, said Moore, who was assigned to the project eight years ago.

"If we're down there in the middle of everything in the Arts District, we should be open when a couple of thousand people are waiting to get inside Cain's," he said. "We need to maximize that opportunity."

Moore said later opening hours could also allow more freedom for school groups visiting early.

The museum is expected to break ground this fall and open in 2020.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.