Photo by Herb Greene

Jerry Garcia Music Arts has partnered with the specialized media company JGE to bring to life Eyes of the World: The Jerry Garcia Experience, a new, immersive, 40,000-square-foot touring event. Built from an original vision Garcia himself began sketching more than 30 years ago, the singular exhibition is set “to bring to life his music, visual art and musings.” Fittingly, Eyes of the World: The Jerry Garcia Experience will launch in San Francisco in early 2027, before traveling to cities around the country.

Decades ago, Garcia, counterculture icon Ken Kesey and producer Cary Granat, who is a partner in JGE, worked together to develop an animated film and location-based experience designed to immerse audiences in an “experiential journey celebrating joy, freedom and unconventional individualism.” Now, Granat, Laura Rister of Esme Grace, Jerry Garcia Music Arts licensing agent Chris McCutcheon, technology pioneer and producer Josh Courtney and a team of multimedia artists have partnered with Jerry Garcia’s youngest daughter, Keelin Garcia, and the guitarist’s onetime wife, Manasha Garcia, to bring the guitarist’s original creative blueprint to fruition.

“My father began creating this exhibit with Cary more than 30 years ago. It was his dream project. Bringing it to life as he imagined is a deeply meaningful experience. We are honored to work with the people he trusted creatively. We look forward to bringing Eyes of the World: The Jerry Garcia Experience to the fans he loved,” Keelin Garcia, co-founder of Jerry Garcia Music Arts LLC, said in a statement.

“Jerry’s artistic genius contributed to one of the most inspired movements in music and culture, built on openness, community and connection to one another. We hope those who visit Eyes of the World find a little of that inspiration and joy in this experience,” Manasha Garcia, co-founder of the Jerry Garcia Foundation, added in the same statement.

Eyes of the World: The Jerry Garcia Experience is described as “an ever-evolving, technologically enhanced exhibition built from Garcia’s own voice, music and musings.” Created in collaboration with award winning Chicago-based studio Bridgewater and the digital studio Starchive, this highly curated experience will lean into Garcia’s love of improvisation by continuously expanding with new elements.

Each room will explore a different facet of Garcia’s life and artistry, “from his formative years in San Francisco and pioneering work in sound technology to his visual art, humanitarian efforts, life philosophies and even his unique passion for scuba diving and ocean conservation.” Guests will walk through a portal that takes them back through San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, circa 1966. The journey unfolds across eight immersive rooms, before culminating in an intimate evening of live music by a series of curated Jerry Garcia tribute bands in a state-of-the-art performance space.

Additional dates in cities such as Chicago, Nashville, New York and Los Angeles, along with San Francisco dates and ticket information, will be announced in the coming months. A portion of proceeds will also support arts education, music initiatives and environmental conservation through the Jerry Garcia Foundation.