Nashville Mayor Karl Dean to host fundraiser for African-American music museum
The planned National Museum of African American Music, which has long struggled to raise money, will get a boost from Mayor Karl Dean and some other Nashville movers and shakers this month.
Dean will host a $250-per-ticket fundraiser for the museum at his Green Hills home on Oct. 21. Councilwoman Megan Barry, who hopes to succeed Dean, and a few other people who could join her in the 2015 mayor’s race, such as businessman Bill Freeman, Sheriff Daron Hall and councilmen Jerry Maynard and Ronnie Steine, also are on the list of hosts. So are former Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George and Ryman Hospitality Properties CEO Colin Reed.
The news comes in the same week that the museum shook up its day-to-day management and board leadership. H. Beecher Hicks III, who had been serving as the organization’s board chairman, was named the new president and CEO, and banker Kevin Lavender took Hicks’ spot as chairman.
The city set aside $10 million for the museum more than six years ago. Earlier this year, Dean agreed to give the museum space in the city’s old convention center, and his administration said any proposals to redevelop the facility must include the museum.
“The National Museum of African American Music will be an important attraction in our city and a fitting tribute to Nashville’s musical history,” Dean spokeswoman Bonna Johnson said Wednesday. “Mayor Dean is supportive and appreciative of the work being done, and the city is a supportive partner as the project moves forward.”
Johnson said the city’s $10 million commitment to the project has not changed, even though the museum will no longer need to build a new facility.
http://www.lohud.com/article/DN/20131010/NEWS01/310100073/Mayor-Karl-Dean-host-fundraiser-African-American-music-museum
