Stillman College News Stillman College News September 14, 2010 Stillman to Receive $10M Equity Service Grant from Motown Alumni Association, Inc. On Saturday, September 11, 2010, Billy Wilson, president of the Motown Alumni Association, Inc., and Mr. Jack Ashford, one of the original members of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Recipient "Motown Funk Brothers" visited Stillman College on behalf of the Motown Alumni Association, Inc., and signed a memorandum of understanding with Stillman. The memorandum entered the two parties into a joint research initiative. Dr. Gregory McPherson, director of The Stillman Jazz Consortium and assistant director of bands, will serve as the project director. The proposed granting period is 36-months and shall reflect an equitable value of $10 million relative to the current market value of services provided by major artists, producers, songwriters, engineers and business executives in the entertainment industry. "I sincerely believe our partnership would be one of the most innovative and ground-breaking research initiatives in African American history" said Wilson. Through this joint venture, the development of a 28-song double compact disc, featuring Stillman students paired with various legendary artists, writers, producers and engineers of Motown is planned. This agreement will also provide interactivity through performance, writing, production and entertainment business of many of the celebrated Motown artists, as well as business executives within the Motown Alumni Association, Inc., family. Another facet of this joint venture is the engagement in research for the development of publication of an anthology and textbooks depicting many of the facets of the legacy of Motown and all of its areas of educational value. They include recording artists in classical, jazz, gospel, blues, rock and roll, rhythm and blues and music of television and film. In addition, the history of these same entities will be presented in a similar platform with the development of a companion DVD documentary for archival, instructional and historical purposes. Additionally, the inclusion of an in-kind contingency of a recording contract equaling the par-value amount of $250,000 for select students who successfully complete the program of study leading to a bachelor's degree in music is a part of this agreement. Also, if a student exhibits exceptional talent and abilities, special consideration will be given to the student for the awarding of the same type of recording agreement with a major record label of whom the Motown Alumni Association, Inc., has an active structured agreement with. "It is an honor and a privilege for Stillman College to be selected to receive this grant. I am so excited to see what wonderful work is created because of it," said McPherson. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Register now http://www.hbculibraries.org/html/meeting-form.html for the October 24-26, 2010 HBCU Library Alliance 4th Membership Meeting and the "Conference on Advocacy" pre-conference in Montgomery, AL. The Pre-Conference and Membership meeting are open to directors and other librarians.