New group has plan to keep halls in Macon

Five private citizens will lead a Bibb County-Macon government partnership to help keep the music and sports halls of fame here.

Key to the plan: Revitalizing fundraising efforts and building new partnerships that could match local taxpayers’ money to greater sources of revenue. Advocates also want to drastically increase attendance. In a month, Georgia is expected to solicit proposals for the halls, which have required hefty state subsidies since they opened. Proposals will likely be due at the end of this year.

Kirby Godsey, former Mercer University president, said the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and Georgia Sports Hall of Fame probably should always have state funding.

“But we have to assume responsibility,” Godsey said. “Look, we’ve always acted like these are burdens we have to carry. But these are gifts we can exploit.”

Godsey said annual attendance should be about 500,000 a year. In some recent years, the music facility has flirted near the 30,000 mark. The sports hall dropped to less than 10,000, a 2008 state audit shows.

Macon Mayor Robert Reichert and Bibb County Commission Chairman Sam Hart helped create the private-public partnership in a private meeting Monday. The private members include Godsey, Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce President Chip Cherry, NewTown Macon President Mike Ford, Convention & Visitors Bureau President Monica Smith and Macon Arts Executive Director Jim Coleman.

Emily Myers, a Georgia Sports Hall of Fame board member, said Macon has an advantage over other communities, because the buildings and institutions are already here.

“These are ours to lose,” she said.

The members of the committee seemed to like a four-point plan outlined by Godsey, who wanted to begin with a complete analysis of costs of the museums, with an eye toward combining janitorial, accounting and other services where possible, and finding ways to save on energy costs. He also wants to identify sustainable funding sources for at least three years, acknowledging that foundations are unlikely to back the projects unless Bibb County and Macon governments put “some skin in the game.”

Attendance could be improved by having more performances, cocktail hours and receptions for players. The halls could serve ice cream or sell souvenirs during the Cherry Blossom Festival, Godsey said.

“If we do this, increase the visitors to a half million people a year, there will never again be talk about the future of the halls of fame in Macon,” he said.

Godsey said the halls also need leadership, entrepreneurial people who will raise money through friends, creatively market the halls and talk to Rotary Clubs across the state.

Coleman said people also need to realize all museums need money. He called for a search for large corporate sponsors such as Delta Airlines, and ways to find visitors going to other destinations, such as the Ocmulgee National Monument. Federal data show that institution drew about 111,000 visitors last year.

Godsey said the two halls of fame, along with the Tubman African-American Museum and other facilities nearby, also give Macon an advantage.

“That’s a combination any city would kill for. We’ve got to make sure we live for it,” he said.

To contact writer Mike Stucka, call 744-4251.