Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music opened on Monmouth University’s campus in Long Branch, after a June 6 ribbon-cutting and two nights of concerts featuring Jon Bon Jovi, Public Enemy, Sheryl Crow and others. The public opening is June 13, with the ce
On a campus that’s become part rehearsal space, part stage, the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music finally took shape in public view.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held June 6, 2026 at Monmouth University in Long Branch, where the new center has now opened on campus. Two nights of concerts followed the celebration, drawing big names including Jon Bon Jovi, Public Enemy and Sheryl Crow.
Springsteen, 76, described the point of the building in plain terms during an exclusive phone interview with the Asbury Park Press, part of the USA TODAY Network: music, he said, is a way to connect people back to one another.
“The center, which opens to the public June 13,” features exhibition galleries, research archives, immersive interactive experiences, a performance theater and a gift shop stocked with Springsteen merch from all phases of his career.
The layout is also built to tell a story. “Downstairs tells the story of American music and upstairs it’s Springsteen and the E Street Band,” he said.
The leadership team includes Robert Santelli, executive director; Eileen Chapman, director; and Melissa Kozlowski, director of curatorial affairs. The center is a $50 million wood-accented building designed by Rick Cook of CookFox Architects, based in New York.
Springsteen’s message wasn’t limited to what visitors will see. He returned repeatedly to what he says music does to the mind and to belonging—especially for people who feel isolated.
“Music always has a message. It tells you you are not alone,” Springsteen said. “Whatever you’re feeling, whatever you’re thinking about, you are not alone.”
He tied that idea to his own history, saying he had been a “loner throughout a lot of my young life” and that music was what “drew me out of that.”
When he started playing, he said, he found his first real sense of community in Freehold, New Jersey. “My first community was I went over Tex Vinyard’s house in Freehold. New Jersey. in a dining room with six other guys and we started to play together. That was the first community I ever truly felt a part of,” he said.
He described concerts as conversation at scale: “If you go out to a concert. you are in concert with your audience. You are engaging in conversation with thousands of people on a nightly basis and I found that gave me a psychological balance that I did not have previously in my character and in my personality.”.
The center’s themes show up in the way he talks about what visitors should take home. In response to a question about the “most important thing for visitors,” he said the key is historical context—“the impact of all these musicians have had on American culture.”
He pointed to the bottom floor as the entry into that story. saying visitors “get to see all those wonderful exhibits. Louie Armstrong’s trumpet. Frank Sinatra’s tuxedo. ” and “a sense of pre-rock era American music.” His hope. he said. is that kids leave with “this historical perspective on the importance of music in the American life.”.
During the interview. Springsteen also discussed the recent biopic. “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere. ” describing it as a look at how he returned from extreme isolation. He said the film reflected “somebody come back from those tendencies. ” adding that he has been “lucky that I had music throughout my life.”.
The weekend’s programming underscored the “community” idea he was emphasizing. Springsteen said live music forces people to get out of the house, shut off screens for a while, and gather with neighbors—then turns the show into “a true melting pot of American culture.”
If you were at the university over those June 4 and June 5 concerts—part of the Springsteen Center’s “Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us” series—he said you saw “all kinds of music made by all kinds of people,” followed by those different artists “playing and singing together.”
He called the experience “egalitarian, democratic and incredibly positive,” and said the talent lineup stretched wide enough to cast “the net… over such a wide group of American musicians.”
The two-day shows at the OceanFirst Bank Center on the university’s campus were produced by the Springsteen Center. Santelli emceed the concerts.
Among the performers across the two nights were Jon Bon Jovi, Public Enemy, Little Steven Van Zandt, Sheryl Crow, Jackson Browne, Kenny Chesney, Rosanne Cash and Dropkick Murphys, along with additional artists listed as part of the weekend lineup.
Springsteen also credited Monmouth University as a major creative hub in recent years, pointing to rehearsal shows for “Springsteen on Broadway.” He discussed American Music Honors at the university’s Pollak Theatre, noting Tom Morello sang “This Land Is Your Land” two years ago.
He said he wanted to acknowledge Pat Leahy, the Monmouth University president, who “came in and was an incredibly powerful force in engaging us with the university,” adding that Leahy wanted Springsteen “us to be a part of the university and of the campus.”
Trust and control were another theme when he talked about the center carrying his name. Asked about giving Bob Santelli, Eileen Chapman and Melissa Kozlowski “the reins,” Springsteen said he initially had “a bit of ambivalence” about the idea of building “a building with my name on it.”
“I knew I don’t know how to put together a center. I have no particular skills in that area,” he said, explaining that he would have to “trust somebody completely.”
He said the team handled the work with careful attention to his sensibilities. “The sensitivities, they were really aware of my own sensibility in how the center should feel, what it should deliver,” he said.
Springsteen said he appreciated having students involved, calling it “great to have the students involved” and adding that students are “smart” and “engaged.”
He also responded to the idea of turning the center’s “Music America” shows into a roadshow. describing the weekend as similar to the “old Alan Freed shows. ” where people would do a song or two and then leave. But he said there were “no plans to take it on the road at the moment. ” calling it “kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”.
When asked about the music director Marc Ribler and the augmented Disciples of Soul. Springsteen said he was “impressed” by how hard the group had to work to learn and adapt to a wide range of music over two days. He also mentioned a humorous detail from the June 5 show involving the “Elvis Las Vegas intro. ” which he said Ribler didn’t know the name of.
He added that Trombone Shorty was “fantastic” and said he did not expect the second-line moment connected to June 4.
Prices and access details also come with the opening. Tickets for the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at 382 Cedar Ave. Long Branch are priced at $22 for adults; $20 for seniors; $16 for youth 7-17 and veterans; and free for kids 6 and under. active military and Monmouth University students. Entry slots must be selected via springsteencenter.org, and Saturday is sold out.
The center opens to the public June 13, with additional materials from the shows—like the Music America concerts—viewable at the center’s archives.
Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music Monmouth University Long Branch OceanFirst Bank Center Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us Jon Bon Jovi Public Enemy Sheryl Crow Tom Morello Rick Cook CookFox Architects