Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. is donating $4 million toward a project to expand a museum housed in the Detroit building where he built his music empire, officials announced Wednesday.
Gordy’s gift, which coincides with the company’s 60th anniversary, is the largest individual donation to the project officially announced in 2016, the Motown Museum said. It has attracted contributions from individuals, philanthropies and automotive companies, including Gordy’s long-ago employer Ford Motor Co. Gordy has long said the auto industry served as the inspiration for what would become an assembly line of record-making.
“I’m excited about the future of Motown Museum and happy to support it,” Gordy said in a release. “Not only will the expanded museum entertain and tell the stories of talented and creative people who succeeded against all odds, but it will also inspire and create opportunity for people to explore their dreams the way I did mine. I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of that.”
Museum expansion plans include interactive exhibits, a performance theater, recording studios, an expanded retail area and meeting spaces.
Motown’s roster of artists from the Detroit era included The Supremes, the Miracles, Martha and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5, the Four Tops and Temptations.