Motown Museum gets another grant to boost expansion effort

Detroit’s Motown Museum announced a $1 million grant from a southeastern Michigan foundation toward its expansion.

The money from the Vera and Joseph Dresner Foundation will support Hitsville Next, the museum’s “creative hub for entrepreneurship,” officials said. The facility was designed to offer what officials called “innovative education and community engagement programs.”

The grant announced this month was the most recent since museum officials said they had reached $25 million, or the halfway point in fundraising. The official groundbreaking was held in September as part of Motown Records’ 60th anniversary celebrations.

Expansion plans for the site where Berry Gordy Jr. built his music empire were announced in 2016. Last year, Gordy said he planned to donate $4 million to the project.

Officials said the expanded facility will incorporate interactive exhibits, a performance theatre and recording studios.