Alan Jackson Helps Hall of Fame Announce Major Expansion

Alan Jackson helped the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum launch a $75 million capital campaign on Thursday (July 28). The fundraising campaign, dubbed 'Working on a Building,' after the popular country-gospel tune recorded by Elvis Presley, Bill Monroe and countless others, will help finance a proposed 200,000-square-foot expansion of the popular Nashville tourist destination.

The ceremony kicked off with performances by Ricky Skaggs and Buddy Spicher, a speech by Nashville's Mayor Karl Dean, and concluded with a special performance by Alan Jackson.

The museum will more than double in size with the proposed new addition, extending from 140,000 square feet to 350,000, tripling the exhibit space and adding archival storage as well as an 800-seat theater and educational center.

"Since the Museum opened in 2001, it has become one of Nashville's signature cultural assets and a key economic engine," said Mayor Dean. "Now more than ever, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the city of Nashville will prosper."

"This is an unbelievable moment in the history of this museum and in the history of Nashville," added Steve Turner, chairman of the museum's Board of Trustees.

More than $56.8 million in cash and pledges has already been secured in the initial silent phase of the museum's capital campaign, which includes a total of $48 million in gifts from donors who contributed a jaw-dropping $1 million or more each.

The expansion is scheduled for completion in spring 2014, and will include an educational center with a children's gallery, classroom spaces, a recording studio, an exhibit gallery with archival storage space, an 800-seat theater and more.

For more information, or to make a donation, visit www.workingonabuilding.org.