Longtime Ray Charles manager Joe Adams has unveiled plans and artist renderings for the previously announced Ray Charles Museum. Encompassing Charles’ existing RPM studio site, the three-story, 18,000-square-foot museum is slated to open in late 2007 under the auspices of the Ray Charles Museum Foundation.
Venice, Calif.-based RipBang Studios created the facility’s initial design. In addition to rotating exhibits and never-before-seen artifacts from Charles’ career, the museum will house classrooms, a cafe, a rooftop garden and a retail shop, as well as the business offices and administrative staff for Ray Charles Enterprises.
“The museum is something that Adams and Charles had been hashing around for a few years,” says Jerry Digney, a spokesperson for the Ray Charles estate. “Charles was always very active in supporting schools, including Morehouse, and he wanted to do something for the community. It will not only be a museum but equally a music education center available to locals and out-of-towners.”
Built in 1964 under the direction of Charles and Adams, RPM was named a Los Angeles landmark in 2004.
Source billboard.com.
