Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Capital Campaign Reaches $78 Million

The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s capital campaign has reached approximately $78 million, according to Museum Director Kyle Young. The capital campaign will finance the institution’s 200,000-square-foot expansion. Construction on the nearly $100 million project, which will expand the museum to more than 350,000 square feet, took shape in June 2011 and will be completed in March 2014. The campaign is still seeking the final $20 million needed to complete expansion funding.

Among the recent capital campaign gifts are donations from BlueCross® BlueShield® of Tennessee Health Foundation; BMI; City National Bank; the Dugas Family Foundation; the Gretsch family; Carl and Connie Haley; Hospital Corporation of America; the Memorial Foundation; and Will, Jan and Gary Overton.

During the silent phase of the capital campaign, titled Working on a Building: Country Music Lives Here, $56.8 million in cash and pledges were secured. More than $48 million of that total came from donors who contributed $1 million or more, including a lead gift of $6.5 million from Steve and Judy Turner. Since the campaign’s public kick-off in July 2011, previously announced gifts of $1 million or more include the Academy of Country Music, the Andrea Waitt Carlton Family Foundation, the Country Music Association, the Frist Foundation, the Ingram Charitable Fund, Inc. and Taylor Swift.

The new building will feature the Taylor Swift Education Center, which will include classroom spaces, a learning lab and an exhibit gallery; the ACM Gallery; the CMA theater, which seats 800; Hatch Show Print’s new home; an event hall; and more.

The Working on a Building campaign is led by Steve Turner, chairman of the museum’s board of officers and trustees; and honorary co-chairs Bill Ford, Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman, and Country Music Hall of Fame member Kris Kristofferson. For more information about the campaign, or to make a donation, visit workingonabuilding.org.