Berry Gordy contributes $4 million toward Motown Museum expansion

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    (September 4, 2019) For any soul music fan, Detroit’s Motown Museum is hallowed ground. The small house on Grand Boulevard is also a must see for visitors to the city, with musical history virtually dripping from the walls. For years, there has been discussion for expansion of the museum into a world class 21st century attraction, and now that dream is closer than ever to reality.

    The Motown Museum is in the middle of a $50 million fundraising campaign, and has already received multi-million dollar commitments from such organizations as Ford Motor Company, the Kresge Foundation and the UAW.

    And today, the Museum announced that Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. has made a $4 million donation toward the expansion. With that contribution, the Museum should be approaching the halfway mark toward its goal. This announcement comes just a week after the critically acclaimed documentary, Hitsville: The Making of Motown, debuted.

    (September 4, 2019) For any soul music fan, Detroit’s Motown Museum is hallowed ground. The small house on Grand Boulevard is also a must see for visitors to the city, with musical history virtually dripping from the walls. For years, there has been discussion for expansion of the museum into a world class 21st century attraction, and now that dream is closer than ever to reality.

    The Motown Museum is in the middle of a $50 million fundraising campaign, and has already received multi-million dollar commitments from such organizations as Ford Motor Company, the Kresge Foundation and the UAW.

    And today, the Museum announced that Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. has made a $4 million donation toward the expansion. With that contribution, the Museum should be approaching the halfway mark toward its goal. This announcement comes just a week after the critically acclaimed documentary, Hitsville: The Making of Motown, debuted.

    The 50,000 square foot expanded museum is to include interactive exhibits, retail and meeting areas, recording studios and much more. As Robin Terry, the Chairwoman and CEO of the Motown Museum said, “Our goal is to bring and expanded Motown Museum to the world, to inspire dreams and serve as an educational resource for global and local communities, while creating an international mecca of music and entertainment history.” The updated Museum will expand upon the footprint of the existing "Hitsville USA" site.

    Another major fundraising event comes with the 60th anniversary celebration for Motown, which arrives the weekend of September 20-22. More details can be found at www.motownmusuem.org.

    By Chris Rizik