Ellis renovation 35% complete as manager sought to book monthly shows

For anyone who ever doubted whether the $30 million Congress of Country Music would actually come to fruition, Marty Stuart says seeing is believing.

A half-million dollar donation from a Merle Haggard fan in Reno is a done deal now and there are others as a search for a professional to manage the Ellis and book monthly shows is on.

Former Gov. Haley R. Barbour and his wife Marsha are hosting a fundraiser in Jackson next month as a $4 million renovation of the Ellis funded by the state progresses.

“As people see construction going on at the Ellis Theater, they are realizing the Congress of Country Music is going to happen,” Stuart said earlier this month. “It’s been happening for a longtime but it is finally visible.

“My hope from day one has been that somehow it would start catching fire and the town would have a whole new chapter. I think the Ellis and the Congress of Country Music, as it comes to life, it will be a viable part of that Renaissance of this town.”

Stuart, a five-time GRAMMY-winner, platinum recording artist, is brining a dream to his hometown.

Renovation on the Ellis began in late October and is 35 percent complete. The renovation is Phase I of the $30 million project. 

Located on the south corner of Byrd Avenue and Main Street, when completed the complex will feature a renovated Ellis along with a museum to display Stuart’s 20,000-plus piece collection of country music memorabilia. There will also be classrooms, a community hall, event space and a rooftop performance venue. 

The Congress of Country Music will create an education curriculum and programming to promote the roots of country music. There will be changing displays which will not only spotlight Stuart’s collection. It will also include showings of international traveled artifacts, memorabilia, photography, folk art and Native American programming.

The pieces are coming together. 

As work is being done inside the Ellis, outside construction can be seen on the fronts of the adjoining buildings. That space will be used later for the classrooms, offices, dressing rooms and the museum in the later phases. 

The second phase will be the construction of the Community Hall where an old audio building is. Phase three will be the building and setting up the museum where Stuart’s collection of artifacts will be housed and displayed and that needs a buyer.

While Phase 1 work is going on, Stuart is thinking and working to get the doors opened and to keep them opened.

“What we need to do is look for a director and general manager for the Ellis,” Stuart said. 

“If you are going to have opening week festivities at about the time they are finishing, in the show business world things are being booked right now. This is urgent. Job descriptions have been written and we are searching for the right person.”

Stuart said once the Ellis re-opens, he foresees two to three acts coming in each month. But the Ellis getting open will be the first priority.

“Opening the Ellis is bigger than having a concert,” Stuart said. “It should be a series of events. There will be music. The Arts Council, which is absolutely a partner with us, should have the stage to do whatever they need to do.

“There should be a church service to kick it off. And one of our advisory board members, Rob Stone, who is the visual curator for the Library of Congress, I have invited him to curate a night of film so the Ellis will again be a film house.

“So, you get music, you get theater and you get the films. That is how the Ellis is going to survive. I has got to serve a lot of needs,” Stuart said.

Figuring out how to pay the bills is a top priority. Stuart, a member of the Grand Ole Opry and Country Music Hall of Fame, has been making contacts with potential investors about the project over the years. That groundwork is paying off.

“It’s a life sentence,” Stuart said. “That’s what I do from now on. We are into the beginning stages of Phase 2 fundraising.

“There is a lady that I was introduced to on the phone back in the spring. She is from Reno, Nevada. She got Merle Haggard’s old tour bus and rode across the country to visit places she had heard about. She spent the day with me here in Philadelphia. She enjoyed it and we stayed in contact. Right before Christmas, she wrote us a check for a half a million dollars to help get Phase 2 started and to help with administration. That is done.

“There is another $250,000 check that was placed out of Washington, just to get us started. In my mind, those two tip off Phase 2,” Stuart said.

A fundraiser in Jackson on Feb. 24 is being hosted by the Barbours. “That can’t hurt,” Stuart said. “We will have other events later this year. So yes, fundraising is the most essential part of part of Phase 2.”

The Congress of Country Music is a 5013C non-profit organization. 

Members of the Congress of Country Music Board of Directors are: David Vowell, Pat Thomasson, Jackie Hester, Marty Gamblin, Kinsey Goldman, Tim Moore, Steve Wilkerson, Jackie Conn, all of Philadelphia; Marty Stuart, Greenbriar, Tenn., Liz Cirlot, Jackson, John Peets, David Conrad, both from Nashville, and Doug Hudson, Gulfport, Fla.