The Tubman Museum is pleased to announce that it has been selected as a winner of the 2017 Knight Cities Challenge for its “Back Lot Drive-In at the Tubman” proposal. The official announcement of the winning projects was made today at the Knight Cities Challenge Winners Summit’s awards ceremony in Miami.

The “Back Lot Drive-In at the Tubman” project is a new Tubman Museum initiative that, on selected evenings during the year, will transform the downtown parking lot behind the Museum into a drive-in movie theater. The elevated terrace on the rear side of the Museum will serve as the platform for a 30-foot modular LED screen. Outdoor speakers placed on and below the terrace will amplify the film soundtrack to people gathered in lawn chairs or parked in cars near the building. And cars parked further back in the lot will be able to enjoy the soundtrack via their radios. The rear terrace of the Museum and the new sound system funded through this Knight Cities Challenge grant will also be utilized to present free outdoor concerts, and the drive-in films and musical performances presented in this new downtown amphitheater setting will be strategically scheduled to support popular community events and the museum’s rotating exhibitions and overarching mission to educate its visitors about African American art, history and culture.

The Tubman Museum was one of 33 Knight City Challenge winners selected nationwide from 144 finalists and an original pool of over 4,500 applicants. In a congratulations statement, George Abbott, the Knight Foundation’s Director of Community and National Initiatives, stated, “We are immensely excited about the potential of this project and the other challenge winners to make Knight cities more successful.”

Through this new drive-in movie and outdoor concert experience, the Tubman Museum hopes to create a vibrant community space in an otherwise utilitarian lot. The project will also establish a strong link between the Museum and nascent development that is taking place in the rear of the Tubman Museum’s block – including a new downtown condominium complex, the restored Capricorn Studios, Ampersands Arts, and the new offices of Historic Macon, an organization dedicated to community revitalization through historic preservation. The free movies and concerts presented in this new downtown setting will create an opportunity for communal gathering across racial and cultural lines and provide free and easily accessible entertainment to a diverse audience of downtown residents and others who travel to the site by car or by public transit.

“A drive-in theater is not a new concept, but this project’s location in a downtown urban setting provides us with a chance to introduce another generation to a once-thriving cultural staple that was central to life and entertainment in Middle Georgia and throughout the South,” stated Andy Ambrose, Executive Director of the Tubman Museum. “It will offer a unique experience for citizens of all ages and backgrounds, and we expect it to attract visitors throughout Georgia.”

The Knight Cities Challenge seeks ideas that help make cities more vibrant places to live and work, focusing on three drivers of city success: keeping and attracting talent, expanding opportunity and creating a culture of civic engagement. The challenge accepts submissions from innovators who have ideas to make the 26 communities – including Macon – where Knight invests to help them be more vibrant places to live and work.