The Nashville Model: Cross-Sector Collaboration for the  Vision of the New Nashville

The Collaboration

 

The unique aspect of the Country Music Hall of Fame (CMHOF) expansion included collaboration with the adjacent Omni Hotel and the City of Nashville, led by Mayor Karl Dean. The CMHOF and the Omni faced a challenge when the Omni Nashville Hotel design team realized that the CMHOF was expanding on the piece of land that was also needed for the proposed hotel(Musings from Music City: HKS Designed OmniNashville Hotelopens with Grand Harmony,November 5, 2013). Instead of allowing this challenge to stop the forward process of both projects, theprincipals with the Omni Nashville Hotel and theCMHOF and the CMF negotiated a construction deal. As a result of the deal, the CMHOF would be locatedin an “exterior shell” to be built by the Omni Hotelwhile the CMHOF would build out the interior of theshell with galleries, a theater, children’sarea, and studio (Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Announces a $75 Million Fund Drive, July 28, 2011).

 

The History of the Country Music Hall of Fame

 

The Vision

 

According to the CMHOF website, in 1961, the Country Music Association (CMA) announced the formation and start of the Country Music Hall of Fame and its first three Hall of Fame inductees (About, n.d.). However, in 1961, the CMA did not own or operate a museum to display the awards given to the new CMHOF inductees, so the names and awards were displayed in the Tennessee State Museum from 1961-1967 (About, n.d.). In 1963, the Country Music Foundation (CMF) incorporated as a nonprofit and chartered in the State of Tennessee on April 1, 1963 (About, n.d.).

 

Also, in 1963, the CMA announced that a dedicated County Music Hall of Fame and Museum would be built. (About, n.d.). According toBillboard magazine in an article entitled Original CountryHall of Fame Closes its Doors, the original CMHOF wasthe brainchild and dream of Tex Ritter, county singerand Owen Bradley, a music producer (n.d.). These two country music powerhouses spearheaded the fundraisingfor the original CMHOF and they established an“educational Country Music Foundation to preservecountry music traditions and manage the enterprise”(Original Country Hall of Fame Closes its Door, n.d.). In large part due to the efforts of Ritter and Bradley, on April 1, 1967, the CMHOF opened its doors on Music Row in Nashville (Original Country Hall of Fame Closes its Door, n.d.).

 

The CMHOF, the museum, and Studio B were located in a building on Music Row at Sixteenth Avenue and Division Street. (About, n.d.). The original location of the CMHOF continued to welcome visitors and preserve country music until it closed on December 31, 2000 in order to build a larger, more engaging CMHOF and Museum. (Original Country Hall of Fame Closes its Door, n.d.).

 

The New Building

 

The second building, and the subsequent addition, was needed due to the increase in tourism in Nashville, revitalization of the downtown core, and interest in preserving the memories of Country Music. Designed by Tuck Hinton, a Nashville architectural firm, the new CMHOF opened May 1, 2001 at 222 Fifth Avenue South, Nashville, TN (About, n.d.). The cost of the new, music themed building was approximately $37 million but the new structure greatly expanded the original museum by quadrupling the exhibition space (Original Country Hall of Fame Closes its Door, n.d.).

 

The new CMHOF building was located in a bustling area of downtown Nashville and the architecture of the new building integrated musical concepts into its façade and appearance. This new building met the need for an expanded CMHOF by its location in the Nashville downtown business core and its increased size, which drew more tourists to the area.

 

Growing Pains

 

However, as time passed, it became apparent to Steve Turner, CEO of Butler’s Run and the Chairperson of the CMF, that the new CMHOF needed to be expanded to continue to attract and engage visitors and continue its mission of preserving Country Music (S. Turner, personal communication, February 2, 2014). By this point, tourism was a major industry in Nashville and as the city was branded as the “Music City”, it was vitally important that the CMHOF rise to the challenge of the new branding campaign by continuing to engage and attract visitors from all over the United States and the world.

 

Initially, there was some resistance to expanding the CMHOF in downtown Nashville, and Steve Turner, the Chairman of the Board of the CMF and CEO of Butler’s Run, used some “hard power” to convince the city of Nashville that the CMHOF needed to be expanded to continue attracting visitors to downtown Nashville.(S. Turner, personal communication, February 2, 2014). In order to achieve the CMF’s vision of a thriving, vital museum of Country Music located in downtown Nashville, Mr. Turner threatened to move the CMHOF to another city, such as Austin, unless the Mayor and the city of Nashville helped him obtain a piece of land needed to expand the existing CMHOF into the new, improved CMHOF (S. Turner, personal communication, February 2 2014). Turner’s argument was ultimately successful and the piece of land was obtained and the CMHOF remained in downtown Nashville.

 

Working on a Building Campaign

 

The CMHOF then launched an epic fundraising campaign. According to Edward Morris (2011), in an article for County Music Television (CMT), the CMHOF launched an ambitious three year fundraising campaign with the slogan “Working on a Building: Country Music Lives Here” (Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum announces a $75 Million Fund Drive, July 28, 2011). Steve Turner led the campaign by setting an ambitious goal to raise $75 million dollars for expansion, and doubling its existing space to provide “archival, educational, performance, meeting and recreational activities” (Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum announces a $75 Million Fund Drive, July 28, 2011). In the same article, Morris (2011) further elaborated that of the $75 million needed for the project, Steve Turner and his wife, Julie, pledged $6.5 million.

 

The “Working on a Building” campaign was co-chairedby Bill Ford, of the Ford car industry legacy. This choicefurther illustrates the collaboration between the businessand non-profit sectors in the vision and fundraisingassociated with the CMHOF. It is interesting andimportant to note that several of the fundraising eventswere held outside of Nashville and Tennessee. In fact,the campaign was kicked off on July 29, 2011 with a special event at the Ford Theater in New York City (CMHOF Launches Campaign to Raise $75 for Expansion, July 29, 2011).

 

Today

 

The CMHOF continues to induct new Hall of Fame members, educate the general public regarding the country music business, welcome numerous visitors, and display artifacts and memorabilia of past and current country music stars. According to Ralph Schulz, president of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce in an interview, the CMHOF “is unique to Nashville” and the CMHOF played an important part in the success of the MCC and the Omni (R. Schulz, personal communication, March 20, 2014).