By ANNABEL GIRARD
Staff Writer

With less than a year before a state grant expires, members of the community interested in seeing a brass band museum become a reality are getting down to serious planning.

In August 2000, a state grant of $25,000 came earmarked for an architectural study on the feasibility of turning the Federal Building at Fourth and Main streets into a museum on brass bands. The museum is seen as a way to attract tourists and to continue throughout the year the interest generated by the Great American Brass Band Festival.

George Foreman is spearheading the efforts to make a brass band museum a reality. He is director of the Norton Center for the Arts at Centre College and a founder of the brass band festival.

A local museum committee will be formed to begin meeting on a regular basis to develop plans for the museum. Last week, Mayor Alex Stevens, Commissioner Jamey Gay and City Manager Steve Biven met informally with Foreman and Advocate Editor and Publisher Mary Schurz. The Advocate sponsors the Advocate Brass Band.

Foreman said many projects, such as Millennium Park and the purchase of the old Hub property, are winding up "and not taking as much time and attention."

"We're trying to mobilize community leadership and put this project on the front burner," Foreman said.

Turning the former post office into a museum will be expensive, Foreman said, because of special needs for lighting, humidity control and display areas and cases. Plans are to seek contributions locally, through government grants, from brass band enthusiasts and from foundations.

"The money from the state will be used to do an architectural study to know exactly what we're talking about," Foreman said. "Clearly one of our priorities is to raise the money to pay for renovations."

The city acquired the Federal Building when the government declared it surplus with the understanding it would be used for the museum.

Stevens said the city continues to be committed to letting the building be used for the museum. The city's planning goals call for some decision on the museum by June 30 of next year. That's the same time the state grant expires.

Boyle County Treasurer Mary Lynn said the grant must be used before July 1, 2002. The grant came to the Fiscal Court. The grant agreement with the state requires the money to be spent following the county procurement code. The museum committee will make spending recommendations to the Fiscal Court, which then approves the expenditure. A similar process was followed with the grant to the Wilderness Trace Child Development Center and grants made for Perryville Battlefield preservation efforts.

Stevens said the city continues to be involved because "continuing interest( in the museum) is so important to Danville. ... We are putting forth every effort to cooperate with Centre. We're committed to that building being a museum."

"There's no other museum like it in the country, but it's a long way from being a reality," Gay told the commission Tuesday.

Everyone agreed the Federal Building is an ideal place for a museum. "It has the look and appearance of a museum," Gay said.

Commissioner Tom Bryant lamented the delay in getting anything done. "It looks like Centre is just waiting and waiting and waiting."

While Centre will likely have some role in the museum, such as allowing students to work there and perhaps having the museum fall under the general Centre umbrella, Foreman said, the museum will actually be run by an independent committee and a museum foundation will be established to raise money to ensure its continued operation.

Bryant expressed concern about how funds would be raised. "I do not want something where we have to ask for donations to get it off the ground. With the situation with the Hub and Phase III (of Millennium Park) we have just about exhausted every means around town to raise money to keep going."

If a brass band museum does not become a reality, the city will have to request a change of use from the Department of Interior, which declared the building surplus. The use has to have some tie to recreation. There is no lack of interest in the building.

"A line has formed by people who want to use it," Stevens said.

A proposal from Kathy Belcher calls for the Federal Building to serve a number of community needs. The proposal was given to commission members at the Aug. 27 meeting. Belcher, who heads the community education program, said many agencies, including hers, have been seeking space.

However, Belcher understands the brass band museum has first chance. Her wish list calls for a conference room for community meetings, office space for several non-profit organizations, a clothes closet for the community run through public schools, Arts for Kids and a computer lab for use by the public.

Biven advised the commission that any group using the building before a decision is made about the brass band museum needs to understand that they will have to leave when work starts on the museum.

Biven said even a temporary use of the building other than as a brass band museum requires approval from the Department of the Interior.

The city is paying for utilities and maintenance. Assistant City Manager Bridgette Milby said the air conditioning will need to be replaced.