Brian McCollum

Detroit Free Press Pop Music Critic

The Motown Museum’s planned $50-million expansion has gotten a major boost with a $6 million investment by Ford and UAW-Ford.

The contribution, announced overnight, will fund the Ford Motor Company Theater at the planned 50,000-square-foot complex, which will rise around the existing Motown Museum on West Grand Boulevard.

The museum announced its expansion plans last month, vowing to turn the complex into a world-class tourist destination at the site of Motown Records’ original studio and headquarters.

Ford and Ford-UAW are described in today’s announcement as lead donors in the project. The investment will also fund educational and music programming at the museum, along with a CARaoke Experience that integrates music with Ford vehicles.

Ford's Motown investment is part of $10 million in newly announced Detroit spending in the next five years, on top of $20 million already devoted to community initiatives in 2016, according to a press release.

“We are thrilled to play a role in the next chapter of a global music icon,” Ford Americas president Joe Hinrichs said in a statement. “The enhanced museum will not only upgrade the visitor experience. It also fits with our commitment to investing in the cultural heritage of Detroit and southeast Michigan.”

Said Motown Museum chairwoman and CEO Robin Terry: “Motown and Ford Motor Company have wide and deeply connected roots. As two Detroit-born brands, they have had — and continue to have today — a transformative and profound impact on creativity and innovation around the world."

UAW vice president Jimmy Settles grew up in the area near the West Grand Boulevard site, and he told the Free Press last month he was enthusiastic about the prospect of Motown Museum growth.

With today's Ford announcement, Settles said: “It is very gratifying to support the expansion of the Motown Museum, and in doing so, we strengthen an institution that has great historical and cultural significance to our region and the world. This partnership also allows us to continue our commitment to the Motown Museum’s surrounding community, which is a community that many Detroit natives treasure.”