Metro Jacksonville

Georgia Music Hall Of Fame Closing  
By Josephine Bennett

MACON, Ga.  â€"   


The Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon is closing. The state’s collection of music memorabilia is now heading into storage at the University of Georgia.

After months of wrangling the museum will close its doors on June 12th. The board rejected bids from four cities to house the facility and a last minute 800-thousand dollar proposal from a Macon group.

Mike Ford is with Newtown Macon. He says they agreed to fund the museum with the authority board still in control.

“It’s hard to understand how the authority can feel like it’s representing its music heritage in the state by closing the museum.”

Ford says his group will now focus their efforts on the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. The Georgia Music Hall of Fame has been in Macon for 15 years.



http://www.gpb.org/news/2011/05/24/georgia-music-hall-of-fame-closing

Held were thousands upon thousands pieces of memorabilia.  Articles have often pointed out the large number of featured artists as having come from Jacksonville.  Most of the collection will go into storage. 

Why heck would they close if they had offers to keep it open? That is truly stupid. I can not believe all that stuff is just going to sit in storage and collect dust . Awful.

the place never turned a profit at all.  the residents of macon have no respect for culture and have abandoned the town for safer suburbs.  the attendance numbers were always lousy, it's a shame because macon has a lot of musical history - and a lot less sports history many would have much preferred the sports hall of fame close and the music hall of fame stay.  they were both on the chopping block.

'carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero'

JACKSONVILLE!

OCKLAWAHA

Quote from: hightowerlover on June 06, 2011, 11:38:54 AM
the place never turned a profit at all.  the residents of macon have no respect for culture and have abandoned the town for safer suburbs.  the attendance numbers were always lousy, it's a shame because macon has a lot of musical history - and a lot less sports history many would have much preferred the sports hall of fame close and the music hall of fame stay.  they were both on the chopping block.

Such a Shame

There must be more to this story - it does seem odd that the board would vote to close the facility if there were other groups willing to keep it going. 

I visited both the Music Hall of Fame and the Sports Museum several years ago - almost no one else was there, although the collections and building were impressive.  I thought at the time it was a shame that Jacksonville couldn't get its act together and open a similar facility.

There's a movement in place to transform the exhibition space into an IMAX theater and a museum based upon the history of animation. 

http://www.macon.com/2011/05/26/1573868/animation-museum-founder-interested.html (http://www.macon.com/2011/05/26/1573868/animation-museum-founder-interested.html)

Animation museum founder interested in music hall building
By PHILLIP RAMATI - pramati@macon.com

When Hal Miles heard the news that the Georgia Music Hall of Fame would be closing June 12, he got excited.
It’s not that he had anything against that museum or Georgia’s musical heritage.

Rather, Miles -- a professor of animation at the Savannah College of Art & Design -- has been working on creating the International Animation Hall of Fame, which includes finding a property that could house the collection of about 29,000 pieces of animation-related material he and his wife, Nancy, have collected over the years.

Basically, buying the empty music hall of fame building could save Miles the $23 million he would need to raise to build his own building.

“Basically, we want it,” Miles said Wednesday via phone from Savannah. “We want to move the Animation Hall of Fame there.”

Miles said the last time he checked with state officials, he thought NewTown Macon would convince the music hall’s authority to allow it keep that museum running for another year in Macon. Tuesday, the music hall authority voted 4-3 to reject NewTown’s bid.

Miles said he plans to contact the State Properties Commission in the near future, since it will take over ownership of the building once it closes for good June 30.

Meanwhile, he said, he is waiting to hear about his application to have the animation hall of fame registered as a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization.

Miles said he isn’t worried about the low attendance numbers or the financial problems the music hall faced. The music hall needed to average 141,000 visitors to break even, according to its financial plan. It averaged roughly 20,000 to 25,000 visitors each year.

Miles said much of his funding comes from private sources in the entertainment industry -- “Hollywood money,” he said -- and he thinks he can operate the museum by reducing the overhead 35 percent to 40 percent.

Miles said he hasn’t visited the music hall building, so he doesn’t know what it needs in repairs or if it can be converted to fit his plans that would include a 450-seat IMAX theater, a cafe and gift shop to go along with the museum space.

He figures it would take six months to a year to get the museum going, assuming the music hall building didn’t require a major overhaul.

“It looks like I’m going to have to make a trip (to Macon),” he said.

To contact writer Phillip Ramati, call 744-4334.



Read more: http://www.macon.com/2011/05/26/1573868/animation-museum-founder-interested.html#ixzz1OWM18Qrr

It seems like every type of themed museum/hall of fame is struggling right now. The NASCAR HOF in Charlotte is struggling big time. Alot of the small or medium sized have closed their doors.