Muhammad Ali Center Announces a $10 Million Legacy Campaign
LOUISVILLE, Ky., Nov. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Muhammad Ali Center today announced a $10 million Legacy Campaign designed to provide the Center with the resources necessary to fulfill its goal to ensure that Muhammad Ali’s work – and the core values that shape this work – will forever be available to enthusiasts around the world in one central location.
The goal of the Legacy Campaign is to provide the resources to complete the permanent Visitor Experience; create the Muhammad Ali Archives and Research Center; and maximize its event space, programming systems and operational efficiency. Additionally, it includes an endowment that will enable the Center to fully implement its educational and programmatic initiatives and develop collaborative partnerships with local, national and global partners, far beyond the physical walls of its headquarters in Ali’s hometown of Louisville.
Greg Roberts, president and CEO of the Muhammad Ali Center, said that “Muhammad’s legacy touches people around the world–regardless of one’s age, culture, sex, or ethnicity. So to embark on and fulfill the goals of this Campaign is a significant and worthy undertaking. Preserving and sharing Ali’s legacy by expanding the capacity of our headquarters will assure that his great legacy will continue to positively influence those around the world for generations to come.”
The Muhammad Ali Center’s permanent Visitor Experience has drawn acclaim from visitors for its quality and uniqueness, but more importantly for its emotional impact and its ability to inspire. The Legacy Campaign will enable the completion of the permanent fourth floor exhibits that are focused on “Finding Personal Greatness Within” and designed to reinforce the concepts of Sense of Self, Purpose, and Others. They were not fabricated or installed in the initial phase of the museum’s opening, both to reduce the initial capital program and also to provide a fresh set of exhibitory at some point thereafter.
As the official repository of the Muhammad Ali Legacy and a destination for scholars from across the globe, it is critical that the Muhammad Ali Archives and Research Center be created to adequately store and curate all of the historical documents, recordings, books, magazines, awards, artifacts, and other personal effects associated with the Ali Estate in a safe, secure, and climate-controlled environment. The Center will also ensure that these resources are made available to researchers in a professional manner. The Center wishes to encourage and host serious research efforts and intends to create an Endowed Chair for visiting scholars to conduct their research at the Center on a rotating basis. Equally as important, a significant part of the mission of the Ali Center is to contain the capability to translate the actions, words, and values of Muhammad Ali into educational programs that can uniquely inspire people to better understand each other, to build their own character, and to have the self-confidence and the courage to be the best they can be. The Research Center will also have educational and curriculum specialists on staff to develop character-based educational programs that can best utilize the life work and values of Muhammad Ali in meaningful and long-lasting ways.
The Legacy Campaign is also designed to leverage new areas of revenue in non-programming areas including event space, audio-visual upgrades and energy efficiency. The Center has quickly become one of the most coveted locations in the region for events, and has steadily increased its bookings since it opened in November of 2005. The Legacy Campaign will enable the Center to complete the build-out of two outdoor spaces that were not completed in the initial building program. One is a space that can serve food and drink in an outdoor patio setting, which is highly desirable for many major event planners. The second outdoor space is a rooftop area that will serve as either an extension of the rental space connected to the LeRoy Neiman Gallery and/or a separate rentable area for those desiring an outdoor river view.
Additionally, audio/visual presentations – which make up the overwhelming majority of the exhibits in the Center – have won universal acclaim and laudatory reviews for their quality, innovativeness, uniqueness, and impact on delivering the story of Muhammad Ali. In order to maintain the high quality that has come to be expected, the Center has to maintain and often replace this extremely expensive equipment. Hence, the Center seeks to secure newer models of projection equipment, particularly newer lighting options such as LED and reduced cost LCD screens, which will generate significant annual operating efficiencies by reducing energy costs and providing longer lifecycles.
Finally, The Muhammad Ali Center fully believes that its reach will be far greater through the establishment and implementation of a variety of programmatic initiatives that will expose a greater number of target audiences to the impact of the Center and its core values-related programming. The endowment component of this campaign will insure an annual and sustainable source of funds for the continued development and implementation of its educational and programmatic efforts. The goal of the enhanced endowment is to have these new funds provide enough annual income to underwrite the yearly building operations costs and thus free up income to support enhanced programmatic efforts.
For more additional information, or to be part of the Muhammad Ali Legacy Campaign, call (502.992.5350), toll free (877.855.5350), or email legacy@alicenter.org.
About the Muhammad Ali Center
Located in the heart of downtown Louisville, Kentucky, the Muhammad Ali Center is both a cultural attraction and an international education center that is inspired by the ideals of its founder Muhammad Ali. The Ali Center’s 3 levels of innovative exhibits, educational and public programming, and global initiatives carry on Muhammad’s legacy and inspire exploration of the greatness within ourselves. Much more than a place that tells the story of one man’s journey, the Ali Center reaches beyond its physical walls to fulfill its mission to preserve and share the legacy and ideals of Muhammad Ali, to promote respect, hope, and understanding, and to inspire adults and children everywhere to be as great as they can be.
Source: Muhammad Ali Center
CONTACT: Jeanie Kahnke of Muhammad Ali Center, +1-502-992-5301, jkahnke@alicenter.org
