MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Stax Museum of American Soul Music announced today that the world’s only museum dedicated to promoting and preserving the legacy of Stax Records and all American soul music will reopen on Thursday, June 18, 2020, after being closed since March 18 because of safety concerns during the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.
Recently named the number two music museum in North America by USA Today, the Stax Museum has been working with numerous organizations to be painstakingly careful in preparations to keep visitors safe, including the CDC, City of Memphis, Shelby County Health Department, and the American Alliance for Museums.
Hours of operation from June 18 through June 27 will be Thursday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm. Beginning July 1, the museum will return to its regular hours of Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission for Shelby County residents is free on Tuesday afternoons after 1 pm.
In addition to many other measures the museum is taking to ensure the safety of its guests and employees, a professional cleaning company will sanitize the museum each morning and again midday along with cleanings at other intervals as necessary. All museum staff members will wear masks and/or other protective gear, and we will require all museum guests over the age of four to do the same. We ask that our guests please stay safe and at home if they exhibit any flu-like symptoms. Museum staff will clean the museum throughout the day, wiping down frequently touched surfaces and our gift shop, which will remain open for museum visitors and those who wish to stop by only to shop. Acrylic sneeze guards have been installed at point of entry, and commonly used items in the museum, such as headphones in our music listening stations, have been removed. Hand sanitizing stations will be placed throughout the museum. For any other questions about how we are keeping visitors safe through cleaning and sanitizing, please contact us at 901-261-6338 or mod@soulsvillefoundation.org.
All admissions and merchandise sales will be cashless for now and we’ve installed equipment to allow visitors to swipe their own credit cards to avoid contact.
During our initial phase of reopening, our award-winning, 17-minute introductory documentary will be shown on set schedule to no more than 25 guests at a time in seats six feet apart to continue social distancing. The film will be shown every 30 minutes to allow for a cleaning of the theater after each showing. We strongly encourage guests to purchase tickets through the Stax Museum website in advance of their visit. Group tours must also be limited to 25 people; larger groups will be allowed in at 25 people at a time while others wait outside or in tour buses. For more information about group tours, please email staxtours@soulsvillefoundation.org or call 901-26106338.
According to Stax Museum Executive Director Jeff Kollath, “We were certainly disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis, and while we still take safety precautions very seriously, we have used this time to reflect on how we improve our visitor experience. We are ready to resume making people happy again through our videos, exhibits, music around every corner, and more than 2,000 artifacts and unique items of memorabilia that tell the fascinating story of Stax Records and other soul music labels.”
One new exhibit that will open on June 18 when we reopen is “BEAUTIFUL SOULS: JOEL BRODSKY AND THE FACES OF STAX RECORDS,” a collection of photographs by famed music photographer Joel Brodsky. Best known for his photography for album covers by The Doors and other rock and roll legends, Stax first hired the New York-based photographer in 1970 for album cover photographs at time when Stax was rebranding itself and its marketing materials with a new look that represented Stax artists as they really were – everyday, black Americans making music from and for the soul. Stax artists represented in the exhibit include Booker T. & the MGs, Isaac Hayes, David Porter, Margie Joseph, Rufus Thomas, and many more.
The museum will also host a sidewalk sale outside its gift shop on Saturday, June 20, 10 am -4 pm pending weather, with 20-40% off select items including apparel, LPs, CDs, souvenirs, and more.
