Museum hopes new facility will jazz up music lovers
Harlem institution aims for high note with a $22M push to increase space
The National Jazz Museum, a tiny operation in Harlem, is moving forward with its plan to build a state-of-the-art facility on West 125th Street that it hopes will turn it into the first institution of international stature devoted to the art form.
The 10-year-old museum, which exhibits jazz memorabilia and runs 
educational programs and shows throughout the city, now operates out of the second and fourth floors of a small building on East 126th Street. But two years ago, the city tapped it to become part of a new 67,000-square-foot commercial and cultural development that will be built across the street from the Apollo Theater.
The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone is expected to finally choose a developer for the site by the end of the month, say museum executives, who aim to break ground in 2013.
Meanwhile, the museum is going public with a $22 million capital campaign that will raise the funds needed to build the facility and create a $2.5 million endowment. The museum has raised half the money since it started the quiet phase a year and a half ago.
“We are poised for major growth,” said Arthur H. Barnes, chairman of the museum, which had more than 20,000 people attend its programs last year. “We want to create a destination.”
To get ready for the expansion, the museum is building its staff. In January, it hired a new executive director, Christopher Perry, an attorney who previously ran Boys Hope Girls Hope of New York, an inner-city boarding-school program for disadvantaged youth. That hire allowed Loren Schoenberg, a jazz musician
who was the museum’s longtime executive director, to become its artistic director and have more time to focus on programming.
‘INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE’
Earlier this month, Daniel Beaudoin, a former Columbia University executive who worked as a program officer in the university’s Center for Jazz Studies and as the foundation relations officer with Columbia’s development department, joined the museum as director of development.
In the new building, the museum will have 16,000 square feet, more than six times its current 2,500 square feet. It will also get a street-front presence, with a ground floor and second level. Officials hope to build a glassed-in restaurant/performance space above the marquee so passersby will be able to see musicians playing every evening.
“Our museum is not going to just have pictures hanging on the wall—it will be an interactive experience,” Mr. Schoenberg said. “Whenever the museum is open, there will be someone playing live music.”
BUDGET OBSTACLES
Achieving this dream won’t be easy, however. Only 25% of the museum’s current $1 million annual operating budget comes from earned income, creating an unhealthy dependency on donated funds. And once the new
building is up and -running, its budget is expected to double.
Some experienced jazz executives question whether the museum will be able to handle such a big jump in expenses.
“I don’t know if jazz is such a major attraction that it will drive tourists to its doors,” said Hans Schuman, chief executive of Jazz Reach, a 17-year-old nonprofit that presents jazz and other programs to young audiences around the country in an effort to attract new fans. “I wonder if this will be sustainable.”
MORE OFFERINGS
Executives at the museum have faith in their strategy. They are working to add five new trustees to the museum’s 20-person board and plan to triple the number of programs they offer to boost revenue.
Ideas in the works include programs for young mothers to bring their babies to listen to jazz and a dance program for seniors. A new series called Jazz Is:
Now!, featuring performances by Jonathan Batiste, has been drawing such big crowds that the museum has had to turn people away because it doesn’t have the space.
“We have successful programming,” Mr. Schoenberg said. “We’ll just bee xpanding it.”