[Dixielandjazz] New Orleans Music Museum

[Charles Suhor]

Hi, Bill--This was sent on a list I subscribe to--I suppose you've seen 
it. It would be good for the city and good all around if the history 
and selection of music presented there is solid and not driven by 
politics and popular mythologies. I'm probably just crabby, but if it's 
badly done it will add another layer of glitz and self-worship to the 
billboarding of New Orleans culture. And there won't even be enough 
people around to ask what happened to the real stuff that's supposed to 
be celebrated in the high-tech museums.--Charlie

A JAZZIER PITCH - February 09, 2005 - The Times-Picayune

Two local developers are trumpeting a plan to build a music museum on 
Canal
Street as having greater economic potential than the failed Grammy 
project.

By Rebecca Mowbray
Business writer

Undaunted by the failure of the Grammy museum project, a pair of local
developers hopes to build an interactive museum and performance venue 
for
Louisiana music in the State Palace Theatre building on Canal Street.

The proposed $55 million project, called the Louisiana Music Experience,
would combine local music memorabilia and interactive exhibits with a 
live
concert venue where visitors could hear the music they learned about in 
the
museum.
 
After the Grammy project crumbled in the fall of 2003 because the new
leadership at the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences 
failed to
endorse the concept of building a pop music temple along the Mississippi
River in New Orleans, developers Troy Von Otnott of Entertainment Realty
Inc. and Pres Kabacoff of HRI Properties Inc. decided to see whether 
they
could spin all of their work on the Grammy project into a new project.

They settled on a project that would celebrate jazz, gospel, blues, R&B,
Cajun and early rock 'n' roll music and could serve as an anchor for
spreading development up Canal Street and over to Rampart Street.

"One of the huge things we didn't like about the Grammy project is that
there wasn't enough focus on indigenous music," Von Otnott said. "At 
the end
of the day, we're going to come out with a better project that has more
economic impact for the city."

The museum would include 25,000 square feet of exhibit space, a 
restaurant,
retail store, special-event space, and a computer center with a digital
archive of Louisiana music, plus a 1,500- to 1,700-seat concert hall 
that
the developers hope will become the home of the New Orleans Jazz 
Orchestra.

If the plan becomes a reality at 1108 Canal St., the developers would 
scale
back the current size of the State Palace Theatre to make it better 
suited
to jazz performances, and to reduce rivalry with nearby venues such as 
the
Saenger Theatre.

The developers hope that the strong connection to local culture and 
having a
performance venue attached to the museum will distinguish the project 
from
other music museums such as the Experience Music Project in Seattle and 
the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.

"A large percentage of the people who visit New Orleans come here for 
some
sort of music experience. Unfortunately, if they come with their 
family, and
their children are under 18, they won't be able to experience it, 
because
the only place you can experience the music would be in the clubs," Von
Otnott said. "We're missing a real cultural marketing opportunity."

Kabacoff said that concerts at the Louisiana Music Experience would 
ensure
that locals would make repeat visits, and would open up educational
programming opportunities with local schools. The group hopes the museum
will host about 500,000 visitors a year.

"I don't think the Grammy project had the same intrigue and relevance 
to New
Orleans and the state of Louisiana that this project has," Kabacoff 
said.

The developers plan to pursue a Smithsonian affiliation for the 
project, Von
Otnott said. They have hired the Washington, D.C., design firm 
Gallagher &
Associates to handle the exhibit design. Gallagher worked on the 
expansion
of the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans and the International Spy 
Museum
in Washington, D.C., as well as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Ronald Markham Jr., president and chief executive officer of the New 
Orleans
Jazz Orchestra, the nonprofit jazz orchestra based at Dillard 
University and
conducted by trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, said his group is very excited 
about
the prospect of having a permanent home at the music museum.

"The idea of working with Louisiana Music Experience is mutually
beneficial," Markham said. "We don't have a home."

Right now, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra plays about 15 concerts a 
year at
a variety of facilities around the city, not all of which are 
well-suited to
jazz. For the next few years, the Jazz Orchestra will play lots of dates
across the country under a new deal with a large booking agency, and 
Markham
hopes that his group's rigorous touring schedule will win it lots of new
fans who will want to travel to New Orleans to learn more about 
Louisiana
music. Having a home at the music museum would help the Jazz Orchestra 
build
a loyal following and educate those fans about jazz.

"The Jazz Orchestra will be functioning as ambassadors of fine New 
Orleans
art," Markham said. "People can't be informed about an art form without
institutions to forward it."

The project will make money from ticket, food and beverage sales. One 
thing
that makes the project more feasible than the Grammy project is that
developers won't have to secure permission from the Recording Academy 
on the
recordings, they can just work with the Louisiana artists.

Over the next four months, the developers hope to refine their business 
plan
and museum concept and work out detailed plans for the building. The
developers have an option on the building.

Of course, the big hurdle is money. The developers believe they will 
need
about $10 million from the state and $5 million from the city, the same
amount each entity had contributed to the Grammy project, with the 
balance
of the development cost coming from bond sales handled by the Denver 
finance
company General Motors Acceptance Corp., which had been slated to 
handle the
financing for the Grammy project. Most likely, the project would be 
publicly
owned if it is built, the developers said.

Von Otnott said the developers already have made a request to be put in 
the
state capital outlay budget for the spring legislative session, and they
have met with representatives of Mayor Ray Nagin.

But whether the state and city will go along with the project remains 
to be
seen.

The Louisiana Music Experience is in competition with many other 
"compelling
projects" that were presented by New Orleans area legislative and city
leaders last fall, said Roderick Hawkins, deputy press secretary to Gov.
Kathleen Blanco.

"We have to keep in mind that the capital outlay budget is pretty 
tight, and
there are always more requests than there are funds available," Hawkins
said. "At this point, no commitment has been made to fund the specific
project at this time."

Ernest Collins, arts and entertainment director for the city of New 
Orleans,
sat in on a brainstorming session with project consultants a few weeks 
ago.
Collins said the Nagin administration believes that a music museum 
could be
a key part of the efforts to redevelop Canal Street and launch an
entertainment district along Rampart Street.

But the source of money that had previously been committed to the Grammy
project no longer is available, Collins said, and the mayor still is
evaluating whether this is the best opportunity to develop a music 
museum.
He wants to hear more about the business plan.

"I think he's very open to doing this type of project, but he has to 
see the
right project, and the right relationship with the participants," 
Collins
said.


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