CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced Thursday that it has received a $9 million donation from Christopher M. Connor, chairman of the museum’s board and immediate past executive chairman of the Sherwin-Williams Co., and his wife, Sarah H. Connor.
The gift, the largest individual donation in the institution’s history, will help fund the Rock Hall’s ongoing physical and programmatic reinvention, which it calls “Museum 2.0.”
Christopher Connor in 2013 as chairman and CEO of Sherwin-Williams Company, at a paint store in Brecksville. Connor and his wife, Sara, just donated $9 million to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Lisa DeJong/The Plain Dealer) Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer
The donation comes from the Connor Foundation and from Chris and Sara Connor personally, said Todd Mesek, vice president of marketing and communications at the Rock Hall.
“This is an incredible time for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and I am honored to be involved with what I truly see as a transformative project,” Connor said in a statement released by the museum. “I hope this gift inspires others to join me in creating the best rock and roll experience in the world.”
Greg Harris, the Rock Hall’s president and CEO, said “the gift allows us to realize our vision for the next phases of our transformation of the museum.”
Connor, who retired in December from Sherwin-Williams after 34 years, was named chairman of the Rock Hall’s board of trustees in August.
Naming honor
In honor of the gift, the Rock Hall will name the new theater on the museum’s revamped third floor, housing the introductory film “The Power of Rock Experience,” the Connor Theater. It is scheduled to open July 1.
Located inside the cylindrical, drum-shaped form atop the concrete column on the west side of the museum’s glass pyramid, the theater will feature a 12-minute film directed by Jonathan Demme, known for his films “Silence of the Lambs” and “Stop Making Sense.”
BRC of Burbank, California, which specializes in cultural exhibits, designed the theater to be a “full-on immersive experience,” Harris said, with arena-quality sound and multiple video screens. The film will focus on 32 years of performances by Rock Hall inductees.
“The show itself is the emotions of rock ‘n’ roll,” he said.
In a larger sense, the museum’s redesigned third floor “takes the visitor on this emotional journey through their own memories of rock ‘n’ roll and connects them to a wider community to share similar emotions and similar memories,” Harris said.
After leaving the theater, for example, visitors will be able to record favorite rock memories in a series of sound booths inspired by those used by National Public Radio’s “Story Corps.”
A new mood for the Rock Hall
The design of the Rock Hall’s third floor will create a new mood in comparison with the pristine modernist white tile grids of architect I.M. Pei’s original design, adding bold graphics and images dominated by black and red, the new visual brand of the Rock Hall.
“It’s giving it more texture and giving it life and energy,” Harris said. “We celebrated the stark modern lines for a long time, and we still have the lines, but are certainly introducing more texture, people, color and images into the mix.”
The Connor gift supports the current $13.3 million phase of the Rock Hall’s reboot that began in 2015 and will continue over the next three to five years.
The overall thrust of the changes is to freshen the museum and help it expand its audience. The museum says it has attracted 11 million visitors to Northeast Ohio from outside the region and contributes more than $100 million annually to the local economy.
Earlier improvements
Last year, the museum unveiled $1.8 million in improvements, including a redesigned atrium, a new retail store, an outdoor stage for concerts on its main entry plaza, a beer garden and a row of 7-foot-high block letters that spell out “LONG LIVE ROCK.”
Other new elements at the Rock Hall included “Backstage Stories,” a new exhibit on the museum’s first floor, focusing on scenes of backstage production of rock concerts.
Last year also saw the installation of the Rock Box public art project, which established stacks of all-weather audio equipment encased in 2-by-2-foot aluminum boxes at locations along East Ninth Street.
The speakers are programmed to play classic riffs throughout the day, creating a visual and aural connection between downtown and the Rock Hall, located at the foot of the East Ninth Street pier along Erieside Avenue.
What’s next
Upcoming elements of the museum’s update include:
– The new All Access Cafe in the west corner of the museum’s lobby, featuring menu items designed by Cleveland chefs Michael Symon, Jonathon Sawyer, Rocco Whalen and Fabio Salerno.
– Revisions to the Rock Hall’s seasonal outdoor stage, with a new outdoor beer garden, and enhanced sound and lighting.
– New parking for motorcycles and tour buses along Erieside Avenue that will include an electrical hook-up that can be used by a visiting band’s tour bus.
– A new on-site catering kitchen, a first for the museum.
– A new mobile ticketing system on the museum’s lower level with mobile kiosks to expedite the visitor entrance experience.
The Connor gift, which comprises most of the $13.3 million for the upcoming phase of improvements, “shows incredible leadership from our chairman and his care for Northeast Ohio arts and cultural organizations,” Harris said. “It’s a testament to his leadership and his vision of this organization, and its ability to deliver on that vision.”
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