In 1998, a comprehensive arts and entertainment museum in Mississippi seemed like a far-off idea, something the former Commissioner of Agriculture, Jim Buck Ross, originally imagined as a country music museum at the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Museum in Jackson.

But on Saturday, that idea becomes a reality as it opens to the public in downtown Meridian, following a private gala Friday evening. The idea becomes reality after 20 years of planning, two years of construction and $50 million in funding. Thursday afternoon, workers inside The Max scurried as they put their finishing touches ahead of Friday night’s gala.

By 6:30 p.m. Friday, local and state figures will walk a red carpet into the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience, viewing the formal dedication and enjoying the museum’s 17 exhibits and 100 artifacts.

Following a 9 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday, members of the community can view the facility’s offerings, attend artist lectures and visit local shops and restaurants in Meridian’s downtown.

As the newest museum in Mississippi, The Max doesn’t have a set collection but will continually adjust its displays, making the two-story museum a different experience with each visit.

“This is not fixed in stone,” Tony Lewis, the Max history and arts consultant, said. “It’s something malleable, something that can be changed.”

Lewis worked to secure artifacts, such as a concert ticket from the 60s or Oprah’s classmate’s yearbook.

“We’re really not a collecting institution,” Lewis said. “But what we lack in depth we make up for in scope.”

Rather, each piece has its own story.

“Everything that we have we try to think of as a punctuation point or a jewel in the crown,” Lewis said.

The Max includes a massive two-story rotunda, that hosts the Mississippi Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame. It includes photos and tributes to inductees such as Sela Ward, Jim Henson, Morgan Freeman, B.B. King, James Earl Jones, Elvis Presley, Oprah Winfrey and more.

Upstairs, visitors will find the “theater of daily life” as described by project manager Sarah van Haastert.

Displays include a rowboat in one of Mississippi’s iconic rivers; a church with pews from the Collinsville Baptist Church that was destroyed by a tornado; a juke joint where many soul singers started performing and a school hallway with lockers, all representative of everyday life.

Many involved with the project describe the opportunities for young artists to find inspiration, including stations for their own creations and future workshops.

Rather than the typical ‘no not touch’ signs, exhibits invite little fingers to trace the bumpy catfish swimming a Mississippi stream in a stained glass window or touch the faces of famous musicians sculpted over decades by a visually impaired artist.

All of this comes back to one idea: inspiring the next generation of Mississippi artists.

“There’s been so much lately about the lack of funding for the arts that we really want to make the arts feel accessible again,” Van Haastert said. “These musicians, they didn’t get their training from Julliard… Everybody in the juke joint learned to play in the street.”