At a press conference on April 6, 2005, officials from the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance (BCMA) will announced the planning team, consisting of architects, museum designers, and museum planners, for the new Birthplace of Country Music Cultural Heritage Center.
“For the past seven months, we have been working hard to get this project off the ground,” noted Birthplace of Country Music Alliance President Greg Wallace. “Today we take another step forward to making this project a reality."
In September 2004, the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance announced that local businessman Steve Johnson donated a 24,000 square foot historic structure in downtown Bristol, Virginia. In the seven months that have followed, the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance has received over $210,000 in funding for the planning phase of the project.
Members of the planning team include architects Peyton Boyd of Abingdon, Virginia and Harry McKinney, of Bristol, Virginia who will provide design services. Both Boyd and McKinney have experience on a number of local projects, including projects with arts/cultural organizations, community spaces, and historic structures. Among the past projects the two have completed include the William King Regional Arts Center Abingdon, Virginia; Barter Theatre, Abingdon, Virginia; and Capitol Theatre, Greeneville, Tennessee.
LaPaglia and Associates of Murfreesboro, Tennessee will provide interpretive services through the development of an interpretative master plan. LaPaglia and Associates is an independent consulting firm providing expert assistance to museums and other cultural organizations throughout the United States. Among the past projects that they have completed include the International Bluegrass Music (IBMA) Museum, American Jazz Museum, Delta Blues Museum, the Louisville Slugger Museum, and the National Civil War Museum. Joseph Nicholson and Robert McCauley of Ueland, Junker, McCauley, and Nicholson (UJMN) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania will assist LaPaglia and Associates by providing museum design services.
“Each of these consultants brings a certain area of expertise to this project,” noted Bill Hartley, Executive Director of the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance. Hartley added that the organization selected the consultants based on their expertise with historic rehabilitation, nationally recognized cultural institutions, and other music museums.
By the end of the summer, the planning team will provide the organization with schematic drawings, artist renderings, and conceptual plan. “These are the tools that we need to show elected officials, business leaders, potential donors, and members of our community to convey the vision and potential that this project has for downtown Bristol and our region.”
Upon completion, the cultural heritage center will provide the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance with a new, permanent facility to house its operations, including the museum, educational programs, and artistic programming, in furtherance of the organization’s mission. The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance estimates that the new facility will draw over 75,000 visitors annually with an estimated direct economic impact to the community of over $5.4 million.
The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to telling the story of the living musical heritage of the Appalachian mountains and the cultural traditions that sustain it. The BCMA is funded in part by grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Tennessee Arts Commission. For more information, call (276) 645-0111.
Related News Articles:
Bristol Herald Courier
April 7, 2005
Johnson City Press
April 11, 2005
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