Media Preview: Sept. 17; 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. 

WASHINGTON, DC—September 10, 2025—The Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, a cultural institution focused on illuminating pathways to opportunity for all, opens September 20. The Center comprises a collection of historic buildings renovated over the past 12 years, including the former Riggs Bank, known as “The Bank of Presidents,” and the American Security and Trust Company. It is located at the corner of 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, across from the White House and the US Treasury in Washington, DC. 

At the heart of the Center is the American Dream Experience—a series of gallery spaces and immersive exhibits spanning five buildings and a new Atrium with state-of-the-art technology. Through data and storytelling, visitors can explore how ingenuity and perseverance have shaped the American Dream across generations. 

More than a museum, the Center brings visitors face-to-face with first-person American Dream stories, from conversations with holograms of notable figures to biographies of everyday trailblazers and unsung heroes. Guests can also add their own voices and photos to mixed-media installations, becoming part of the story in real time. Through permanent and temporary exhibitions, thought-provoking public programs, original research and educational archives, the Center aims to inform conversations about the past, present and future of the American Dream.  

“The American Dream is the ideal that any person, regardless of background or where they start, should have the opportunity to pursue a life of meaning and fulfillment,” said Michael Milken, founder. "Stories move us, and data informs us. The Center is built on both. For decades, our work has focused on the four pillars of the American Dream – education, health, finance and entrepreneurship. The Center brings these elements together so visitors can explore each one through real examples and clear data, then reflect on how to apply it in their lives. This is a dynamic, ever-changing project that will grow with what we learn from visitors, and in these early months we’ll use that feedback to refine what’s here and to shape what we build next.”

To celebrate the public opening, the Center will open its doors to visitors with two days of activities and programs on September 20 and 21, where guests can journey through thematic galleries focused on education, entrepreneurship and innovation, financial empowerment and health alongside family-friendly activities, surprise pop-ups and complimentary access to the Holodeck Experience—a one-of-a-kind, 360-degree immersive theater that transports viewers through an interactive film adventure. 

Visitors will begin their journey in the Hall of Generations—a monumental, light-filled space originally built as the main hall of Riggs Bank at the turn of the century. At its center is the Ambassador George L. Argyros Tree of Generations, a soaring three-story tree multimedia sculpture with 1,000 OLED digital “leaves” that display photos and stories contributed by the Center’s visitors.

From here, guests are invited to discover a series of interconnected galleries and installations that bring its many dimensions to life, including:

Geffen Hall of Dreams: This gallery showcases perspectives on the American Dream through visual data, polls, poetry and personal storytelling. Overhead hangs the Esrailian Family Word Cloud—a serpentine chandelier composed of 64 “fins” with 128 LED screens, filled with ever-evolving definitions of the American Dream added by visitors.

Foundations of the Dream Gallery: This interactive gallery introduces the Center’s pillars—Education, Health, Finance, and Entrepreneurship. Each pillar comes to life through animations, games, object displays, and illustrated murals. A highlight of the gallery is powered by groundbreaking AI hologram technology, enabling visitors to hold curated, lifelike conversations with Serena Williams, Sara Blakely, Sanjay Gupta, MD, and Sal Khan as they share personal stories of achievement and impact. The gallery also features the Tapestry of Dreams, showcasing 100 inspiring stories, and the Talent Portals, a playful quiz that reveals visitors’ unique entrepreneurial strengths.    

The Center delves deeper into these four pillars through a long-term exhibition dedicated to finance. The Lennar Foundation Finance Galleries are spaces to uncover the history and sophistication of the American financial system, and how financial literacy and entrepreneurship serve as powerful tools for building a better life and achieving security and economic mobility.

In the future, the Center will build more spaces focused on education, health, and entrepreneurship. The Richard N. Merkin Health Galleries and The Black Family Foundation Medical Research Galleries will demonstrate stories of health and medical research breakthroughs with individual examples of achievement and impact. The Skoll Foundation Entrepreneurship Gallery will feature stories of people who transformed the world through their innovations supporting the public good, from creating the first traffic light, to the solutions forged by social entrepreneurs to address some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Education galleries will showcase how education and educators at every level, from preschool to job training for adults, create opportunity.

The Stand Together Theater: This one-of-a-kind theater features a 270-degree viewing experience. Besides the main front screen, the theater features ceiling screen panels and immersive projections on the four surrounding walls. Every day, the theater will show a film created for the space titled America: Built on Dreams, where viewers will get a look at five different people’s pursuit of their dreams. The short 18-minute film tells a story of determination and grit, play and dedication and surrounds you with heartwarming accounts of people’s lives as they work to achieve their dreams.

Kenneth C. Griffin Holodeck Experience: A 360-degree walk-in theater transports visitors to new worlds through multimedia technology with an inaugural interactive adventure, The Perpetual Story Machine, which takes visitors on a magical journey through time and space to watch the American Dream unfold around them.

Special Exhibition Galleries

ARTEFFECT works with educators and students to spotlight over 100 diverse Unsung Heroes spanning visionaries and innovators from ancient history to the present day across topics including civil rights, environmentalism, medicine and STEAM. The ARTEFFECT exhibit showcases the award-winning works from the 2024 competition alongside profiles of the unsung heroes who inspired their work. 

The opening exhibition in the Center’s art gallery is “Out of Many One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants,” a new collection of oil paintings and stories by President George W. Bush. Through 43 four-color portraits and their accompanying stories, this collection reminds us of the countless ways in which America has been strengthened by those who have come here in search of a better life.

Building Restoration

As part of reimagining the bank halls, much of the historic fabric of the interior floors, walls and ceilings have been restored. This includes the coffered ceiling of 1501 Pennsylvania Avenue, richly detailed with rosettes of ornamental plaster and vibrant colors. The 190-panel skylight in the Hall of Generations, formerly Riggs Bank, was also restored and uncovered for the first time since World War II.

Economic Mobility Alliance

The Economic Mobility Alliance (EMA) brings several Milken Institute programs together under one umbrella, along with efforts from outside partner organizations, to increase economic mobility for individuals of all backgrounds throughout every stage of their financial lives.

About the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream  

The Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD), a cultural institution and part of the Milken Institute, is dedicated to illuminating pathways to opportunity for all individuals to pursue a life of meaning and fulfillment. It is located in historic buildings in Washington, DC, steps from the White House. Among the Center's missions is to advance economic and social mobility for people in America and around the world.

The Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream is located at the corner of 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, across from the White House and the US Treasury in Washington, DC. Opening Weekend Celebration hours are 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Starting September 22, the Center will be open 10:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., closed Tuesdays. Admission is free tickets are required. the Holodeck Experience can be added for $15. For more information and tickets, visit mcaad.org. 

About the Milken Institute  

The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank focused on accelerating measurable progress on the path to a meaningful life. We bring together the best ideas and innovative resourcing to develop blueprints for tackling some of our most critical global issues through the lens of what’s pressing now and what’s coming next. For more information, visit milkeninstitute.org.  

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For Media Inquiries

Cyrina Yarbrough
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Shanna Wilson
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