Via Variety.com:

George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, spoke to the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday as council members gave their unanimous approval to the Museum of Narrative Art, the $1 billion project to be built in Exposition Park that will showcase the Lucas collection.

Groundbreaking is estimated for early next year, with a 36-month construction timeline and an opening set for sometime in 2021.

Earlier this year, Lucas announced that he had selected Los Angeles for the project, after previous proposals to locate in San Francisco, his hometown, and in Chicago, Hobson’s hometown, stalled out. The museum is a gift to the city of Los Angeles, and will come with an endowment of at least $400 million.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who joined them at the council meeting, said that the gift represented the largest single donation from one family to a city. He called the museum a “new jewel that will be at the center of the crown,” and said that it will bring 1,000 construction jobs and 350 positions when it opens.

At the council meeting, Lucas talked extensively about his vision for the museum, and of the importance of the visual arts, including filmmaking, in shaping history, perception and myth.

He told the council members that the showcase of popular art “appeals to people emotionally, but also tells you something about who you are.”

“It is the thing that tells us, ‘this is what we as a society believe in,’” he said.

Lucas also recalled his days as a student at USC, which is just next door to his planned museum.

“The goal of the museum is to inspire people to think outside the box, to imagine whatever you want to imagine, to help build on the myths that help bind our city and our people together, and that is what I am hoping to do here,” Lucas told reporters afterward.

Click below to read the full article.