“Entertainment Nation”, is a fully bilingual, visually spectacular, 7,200 sq ft permanent exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, showcasing 200 beloved objects and future rotations from the Smithsonian’s rich and varied Entertainment collection from 1890 to the present. Deeply inspired by the imaginative power of American entertainment, the design is a sparkling journey through countless extraordinary moments of influential national conversations about values and identity. Immersive media chasing across the space, bold color, sparkle, pulsing lights, strong visuals, and surround sound deliver hundreds of possible encounters for every visitor. Under pulsing lights of an entry marquee, the gallery rolls out the red carpet, unwinds the Yellow Brick Road at the Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz and welcomes visitors into the many spotlights of American entertainment. The exhibit asks how entertainment shapes a nation. This thesis is expressed in provocative questions posed to the visitor throughout. While the exhibit aims to be joyful, nostalgic and exuberant, it also prompts reflection, and challenges visitors to consider the complex and the often-difficult history of the United States. Visitors enter the space by passing under the glittering marquee and walk along the “Red Carpet” where iconic objects from the collection are carefully displayed in custom casework that become extensions of the bespoke terrazzo red carpet - Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet, the original Muppets, the Droids from Star Wars, and Prince’s Yellow Cloud Guitar – among many others. Twinkling marquee lighting and ribbon-like curved LED media screens with charismatic imagery and sound engage visitors at the gallery entrance and highlight the gallery welcome wall. They cascade upwards onto the ceiling, pulsing the length of the gallery and finally explode into a media spectacle. The central red-carpet zone creates a seamless, immersive experience that sweeps through the gallery. The media envelops visitors both in the visuals and sounds which depict entertainment’s most memorable moments. These media takeover moments include highlights such as a Star Wars destroyer racing overhead and Soul Train dancers moving across the space. Through the center of the space, spotlight objects are identified by tall, updatable poster graphic panels that carry large artfully typeset quotations associated with the object and act as familiar hooks: “May the Force be with you.”; “Toto, I’ve a feeling we aren’t in Kansas anymore.” As visitors approach the objects that delicately hover in casework, cultural significance is explored through supporting imagery and bi-lingual text in both Spanish and English – a first for the Smithsonian. Here, visitors are invited to pose with a replica of Prince’s famous yellow Cloud Guitar and sing alongside Selena in concert. Two jewel-like micro galleries create walk in immersive projection and audio spaces. One, asking “What’s So Funny?” explores racist stereotypes in comedy while another, “What is Your Anthem?” creates a sound experience of music and collective social protest. Each examines the ways that American pop culture has shaped American society, and how American societal shifts shape American pop culture. Surrounding the gallery are five large object cases, each showcasing carefully curated artifacts from a specific era. Large super graphic images and color panels use the spotlight motif across the cases carrying contextual imagery, quotes, and color to unite a disparate, wide range of eras and artifacts. Each case is divided by questions asked of the visitor – e.g. “What does it mean to be separate but equal?” “What does patriotism look like?” Changeable, updatable inforail graphics dive into these questions and explore the object’s cultural significance. Flexible for rotation, the casework systems will provide a mechanism for ongoing changing displays keeping things fresh for visitors and allowing rotation for conservation of the many sensitive items on display. “Entertainment Nation”, while charming and joyful, encourages us to look deeper at our history through iconic objects and the stories that surround them, and to see entertainment as not simply a pastime, but as a vehicle for the expression and challenges of the human experience.