The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center will hold a press conference on Thursday, June 14, at 10 a.m. to announce their designation as a member of the Grammy Museum Affiliate Program.
Bob Santelli, blues scholar and founding executive director of The Grammy Museum at L.A. Live, will be on hand for the official announcement.
“We welcome the B.B. King Museum into our family, and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship,” Santelli said.
The museum will be joining other cultural entities that have access to Grammy Museum exhibitions, educational initiatives, research programs, internship opportunities, collaborative marketing and promotions, technicial support for interactive displays, and more.
Visitors from every state and many countries have toured the B.B. King Museum’s permanent exhibits that focus on King’s unexpected path to stardom, beginning with a most humble upbringing as the son of sharecropper parents in the Mississippi Delta.
The museum’s current exhibits follow a chronological order, showing visitors the journey from his youth, to his time spent in Memphis, and finally to becoming known worldwide as King of the Blues.
“The added exposure from this designation will be invaluable as we are added to the Grammy Museum’s website and social media outlets,” said Malika Polk-Lee, executive director of the B.B. King Museum.
“Their expansive reach will help us spread the word about what we have to offer here for music fans,” she added. The museum is in outstanding company in the Affiliate Program along with the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Okla.; the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, Jamaica; the National Blues Museum in St. Louis, Missouri; the Great American Songbook Foundation in Carmel, Indiana; and The Beatles Story in Liverpool, UK.
The Affiliate Program was started by the Grammy Museum as a way to further its education initiatives and mission through a collaborative and unique approach to arts education.
One of B.B. King’s often-quoted sayings was “The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.” He believed strongly in contining to learn throughout his lifetime and was passionate in trying to instill this habit in young people.
The B.B. King Museum has a wide range of educational and cultural offerings throughout the year, including Live at the Museum, Jazz Night at the Museum and its continuing Homecoming Festival that honors the legacy of its namesake.
During his life King won a total of 15 Grammy’s and performed with bands and artists such as U2 and Eric Clapton, who along with multitudes of other award-winning artists gave him credit for influencing their music.
King was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Kennedy Center Honors.
He released more than 50 albums since he began recording in the 1940s, and his recognition from The Recording Academy includes a Lifetime Achievement Award and four recordings inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
