Celebrating the Blues
The Blues Foundation was established as a nonprofit organization in 1980 to fulfill this mission: preserve blues music history, celebrate recording and performance excellence, support blues education, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. The Foundation, headquartered in Memphis, serves the blues community around the globe through programs and activities that fulfill its mission, such as the following:
- Signature events and honors—the Blues Music Awards, Blues Hall of Fame, International Blues Challenge, and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards—make the Foundation the international home of blues music.
- The HART Fund provides the blues community with medical assistance while the Sound Healthcare program offers musicians access to health insurance.
- Blues in the Schools programs and Generation Blues scholarships expose new generations to blues music.
- Information, answers, and news are provided throughout the year by members of the Foundation staff in service to the worldwide blues community.
Today, The Blues Foundation enjoys the respect of the global blues community and a measure of financial stability. With 4,500 individual members, the Foundation also has 190 affiliated local blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals worldwide. The Foundation’s $1 million annual revenues come from membership dues; private donations; corporate sponsorships; grants from private foundations, government agencies, and arts organizations; and merchandise, advertising, and event ticket sales.
A twenty-five member Board of Directors governs The Blues Foundation; Executive Director Jay Sieleman and a staff of three manage day-to-day operations.
A Long-Time Dream
Since its earliest days, the Foundation has envisioned a Blues Hall of Fame. Artist renditions appeared as early as the 1983 Blues Music Award program. Foundation leaders have long recognized that, in addition to stability and operating efficiencies, a permanent home for The Blues Foundation will dramatically improve its ability to fulfill its mission.
A key component for the success of any organization is a sound fiscal base from which to meet its goals and objectives. In recent years, The Blues Foundation has built such a base while continuing to fulfill its mission in each of the above noted programs and activities.
In 2006, the Foundation adopted a strategic plan that embraced a permanent home. The following year, with a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, the Foundation began work with Design 500 to discern requirements for and shape the new home—its location, size, space allocations, and programming priorities.
A suitable location was identified in December 2010—a condominium located at 421 South Main with approximately 3,800 square feet at street level and 7,700 square feet on the lower level. By this time, The Blues Foundation had quietly and steadily eliminated all debt and built reserves of more than $400,000. This financial strength enabled the Foundation to secure a short-term loan to help pay for the purchase of its new building and some basic renovations when this opportunity arose.
Foundation operations began there on July 5, 2011. With the first phase completed, The Blues Foundation continues to pursue its goal: a home that enhances the ability to carry out its mission.
Plans that Focus on Mission
Our goal is to create a memorable experience for the visitor that presents
the rich history of blues music through recognition and respect for the men and women who created this music, while also spotlighting The Blues Foundation programs that ensure the future of one of the great cultural contributions to the world: blues music.
Jay Sieleman, Executive Director
Foundation leaders, with Design 500 and the architectural firm archimania, have determined the best way to enhance the Foundation’s mission is to expand one of its existing programs—the Blues Music Hall of Fame. Both programmatic and pragmatic reasons support this focus.
Since 1980, The Blues Foundation has inducted individuals, recordings, and literature into the Blues Music Hall of Fame. The induction included a public announcement, a presentation event, and a printed program; more recently, it also included postings to The Blues Foundation’s website. A new Blues Music Hall of Fame at 421 South Main enhances one of the founding programs of The Blues Foundation. The new hall of fame will be the place to:
- honor inductees year-round;
- listen to and learn about the music; and
- enjoy historic mementos of this all-American art form
The new Blues Music Hall of Fame will be the place for serious blues fans, casual visitors, and wide-eyed students. It will facilitate audience development and membership growth. It will expose, enlighten, educate, and entertain. The new facility will serve all four components of the mission: preserving history, celebrating excellence, supporting education, and ensuring the future of the music.
The new Blues Music Hall of Fame will be the centerpiece at 421 South Main. The plan includes an attractive, inviting, and functional façade with a public art component (Little Milton’s “Think of Me”). It provides approximately 5,000 square feet of space for programming, and 1,500 for administration, with the remaining 5,000 reserved for circulation and hosting events, for housing normal building mechanicals, and for storage and expansion.
An Investment with Long-Term Benefits
New facilities at 421 South Main have the potential for a long-term return on investment for The Blues Foundation.
Memphis is known as the “home of the blues.” “Music is an integral part of the social and economic fabric of the city,” according to an economic impact study conducted by the University of Memphis in 2004. “Many of the city's highest-priority economic development plans are built upon initiatives to attract young, dynamic, high-income professionals to the area,” the study observed, and it recognized that the diversity and creativity of blues music are a unique advantage for Memphis.
Each year, tens of thousands of tourists travel to Memphis on musical journeys to see Graceland, Sun, Stax, Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, Beale Street. The National Civil Rights Museum, across the street, currently attracts 200,000 visitors annually to the South Main Street neighborhood and is investing in renovation and expansion there. And The Blues Foundation is already responsible for bringing thousands of dedicated blues fans to Memphis twice a year for the Blues Music Awards and the International Blues Challenge.
The new Blues Music Hall of Fame, based on attendance at other Memphis musical destinations, is expected to attract 20,000-30,000 visitors in just the first year. Some visitors will purchase items in the gift shop; some will become dues-paying members; some will make a donation. These expenditures will provide additional gross revenue that can be directed to support all the Foundation’s program initiatives—the HART Fund (pays medical expenses), Generation Blues (youth music scholarships), the Blues Music Awards. And the on-site expenditures have the potential to grow as the hall of fame operations mature.
The Campaign for the Hall of Fame
To see the plans realized, the Foundation board has approved a campaign to raise up to $3.5 million, including the repayment of its loan, to be allocated as follows:
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Building Acquisition & Occupancy
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$450,000
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Renovations & Exhibits
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$2,500,000
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Project Costs
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$550,000
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Total Goal
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$3,500,000
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The Blues Foundation is the international home of blues music, and it is based in Memphis. The two most important events in blues music are staged in Memphis each year—the International Blues Challenge and the Blues Music Awards.
Now, with the final development of 421 South Main and the Blues Music Hall of Fame at its heart, The Blues Foundation is poised to create a facility for the world to visit every day of the year. And it will expand the audience and customer base for blues music, a signature business in Memphis.
For blues fans around the globe—who visit Memphis in a virtual sense hundreds of times every day for a wide variety of services through The Blues Foundation’s website— the campaign offers a unique opportunity to ensure expanded access to the blues. Information, musicians, and performances archived in the hall of fame, together with its exhibits, will be rich new resources available to all worldwide.
Therefore, we invite the entire blues community to invest in the Blues Music Hall of Fame, a facility that preserves and celebrates the blues, honors our legendary inductees, and creates a home overflowing with history and permanent recognition for the musicians and the music. For local fans, the new facility offers an opportunity to invest in the community and the music that has put Memphis on the map. And it is time to make the blues’ home a reality that will celebrate the music long into the future.
ALL who support this campaign ultimately have the opportunity to enhance The Blues Foundation’s programming, such as the HART Fund and Generation Blues. A campaign investment will see the realization of the new Blues Music Hall of Fame and it will nurture growth and long-term viability for the entire organization.
No one knows what you can contribute financially. Only you do. But what I do know is that it is up to us to lead the way. There may be foundations and companies and rock stars that join us in this endeavor, but before that happens we have to be able to get before them with our story.
Make your own pledge.
Make the Blues Hall of Fame your own cause.
Open doors for us.
If not us, who? If not now, when? Just think, YOU can make the Blues Hall of Fame a reality. Your support matters. | 
