Who they are:
The Blues Foundation is Memphis-based but world-renowned as THE organization whose mission is to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, The Blues Foundation has over 4,000 individual members and close to 200 affiliate blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world. Our signature events, The Blues Music Awards, International Blues Challenge and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards, make our organization the international center of blues music. Our HART Fund provides the blues community with medical assistance while Blues in the Schools programs and Generation Blues scholarships expose new generations to blues music. The 2015 opening of The Blues Hall of Fame Museum in downtown Memphis adds the opportunity for music lovers of all ages to interact with the music and the history. Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the worldwide blues community with answers, information, and news.
What downtown means to them:
Downtown Memphis is the logical location for The Blues Foundation headquarters and Blues Hall of Fame Museum. Memphis is the home of the blues, and this important musical form came through Memphis and off of Beale Street, just a few blocks from our physical location. Downtown represents the best of Memphis – the roots of our great city and the foundation of blues music, the root of all other American music. As Willie Dixon said “The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits.”
How they define Pure Memphis:
Pure Memphis means both made in Memphis and representative of Memphis. There is a special flavor in everything that comes from Memphis. It’s unique to our culture, our location, our geography, our weather and our people. The Blues Foundation is excited to be a part of Memphis, Memphis’s music, and Memphis’s history.
