Stax Music Academy

954 Words2 Pages

With an agreement reached about the proposition for rebuilding Stax and the discussion of adding a music academy for the neighborhood children to the master plan, the assembled group set out to make it a reality. They decided to act as quickly as possible and focused on five major areas to make the project a success. Ewarton codified the first three areas of focus in its “Soulsville, USA Revitalization and Concept Plan.” First was the acquisition and control of the real estate on the East McLemore block between College and Neptune. Second, lie in the fundraising and advocacy on behalf of the Stax Museum and Music Academy. The third focus was in the acquisition of a license to use the Stax name from then owner of Stax’s intellectual property, Fantasy Records. In …show more content…

That is why I met with Bishop Patterson, which literally for them was like meeting the pope…Deanie Parker got me a meeting with the Bishop… He was the head of the whole church, at the mother church and I think he was helpful….I felt like I was going to the Vatican. I walk down the corridor, there’s nobody in the room, massive room. And there was tons of back conversations… He called the Reverend (Smith). I don’t know what he said but things did move a little quicker after that…But most importantly, the biggest message we had to them was time. It has been ten years (since COGIC tore down the building). Without offending them, what do you want to do, just put some money in your pocket (for the church), it was donated to you so just call it a day.

After Bishop Patterson’s intervention, South Side Church of God in Christ sold the abandoned Stax lot to Ewarton for $100,000 and Ewarton completed its control of the real estate on the Stax block. This was $50,000 less than Otis Higgs, the attorney for the South Side Church of God in Christ, proposed in 1989 in the

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