Bluegrass initiative has started work

Feb. 2—The director of the Bluegrass Music Initiative said Wednesday work to build on the city's designation as the "Bluegrass Music Capital of the World" has begun, and there are multiple projects underway.

Some of the ideas can be done fairly quickly, while others will take time, BMI director Steve Johnson said. Ultimately, he said, the goal is to draw business and tourism to the city and expand the impact beyond Daviess County.

In time, the city proclaiming itself the Bluegrass Music Capital of the World will be "transformational" for the city, Johnson said, and officials expect the impact will spread to surrounding counties.

"What we've learned — what I've learned since being in this role — is we can bring people to Owensboro now, and it's not a stretch," he said. "You can bring people to Owensboro who are completely unfamiliar with Owensboro, and they are impressed."

Johnson was named director of the BMI last fall after retiring as vice president of governmental and community affairs with Owensboro Health.

The Bluegrass Music Initiative has six "pillars": To market Owensboro's designation as "Bluegrass Music Capital of the World;" to partner with others to increase tourism; to recruit bluegrass-themed artists and business to downtown; to develop new bluegrass music events for the city and county; to create educational programs, such as a bluegrass music degree; and to locate funds to continue the initiative.

"Within every one of those six pillars, there is work taking place every day," Johnson said.

Some of the work is being done by city government. For example, the city has plans to install placemaker signs on highways leading into town and throughout downtown, pointing people to attractions. Those signs will bear the "Bluegrass Music Capital of the World" logo.

The BMI is also working on a possible bluegrass-themed radio show, is in talks with restaurants to provide venues for bluegrass music and bluegrass subgenres and is working on an economic incentive plan for bluegrass-themed businesses and artists.

The city and region have a bluegrass footprint, and the foundation was laid decades ago. Bill Monroe's homeplace is in Rosine in Ohio County. The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum is an attraction in downtown Owensboro that draws national bluegrass artists, and the ROMP Festival is a major bluegrass event at Yellow Creek Park.

The Bluegrass Museum publishes a magazine with national and international distribution, and the ROMP Festival draws "over 24,000 people to the Owensboro-Daviess County region each year," according to a resolution passed by city commissioners in December in support of the "Bluegrass Capital of the World" designation.

Some BMI initiatives will begin in the near future. The Great American Bluegrass Jam will take place March 17-19 at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and U.S. Tours America is offering a "Blue Moon of Kentucky" tour that will bring visitors to the museum, to local music events in Owensboro and Ohio County and to the Bill Monroe Homeplace in Rosine and the Muhlenberg County Music Museum. The three-day tour is scheduled to run from mid-May through early-September.

Other initiatives are in the works but are in the early stages, Johnson said.

Chris Joslin, executive director of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum, said the community needed a BMI director to work full-time on the goals.

"We already have a strong foundation" in bluegrass, Joslin said.

Regarding creating an environment for bluegrass-themed businesses, Joslin said, "I think you have to start small and be deliberate, and start over time to create momentum" to where Owensboro becomes the place-to-be for bluegrass-related businesses.

The resolution city commissioners approved in December said the commission "affirm(s) their wholehearted support, endorsement and assistance for the advancement of Owensboro, Kentucky, as the quintessential Bluegrass Music Capital of the World."

Johnson said city and county elected officials will be part of the decision-making process on initiatives and will be asked for ideas and to help provide structure.

"I think they want to have a voice," Johnson said.

"We've all been involved in projects that got lip service," Joslin said, but the BMI is "making real, tangible progress. It's not going to be something where we look back in 20 years and nothing happened from the proclamation."