Blues Foundation plans Hall of Fame to highlight three decades of the industry's best

The Blues Foundation, once struggling in Memphis and considering a move to Louisiana, has big plans for its permanent home Downtown Memphis. Foundation leaders recently revealed plans for a Hall of Fame featuring more than 300 performers, authors and industry figures inducted into the Hall of Fame since 1980. 

It was a different story in 2003 when Blues Foundation faced financial woes, and the Memphis-based international nonprofit was being courted by Baton Rouge. The Community Foundation, with the support of its Community Partnership Fund donors, approached the foundation with an offer of help. A grant of $37,500, combined with gifts from other local supporters, helped keep the Blues Foundation at home in Memphis.

Over the next three years, grants from the Community Partnership Fund to the Blues Foundation totalled $130,000. The final grant in 2006 was awarded to develop plans for a permanent home. The foundation's board voted to buy that home in December 2010 and moved to South Main in early 2011.  "We could not have gotten here without the Community Foundation's aid at critical junctures," said Executive Director Jay Sieleman.