The Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville is getting a redesign, and the company steering it has previously shaped visitor experiences at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Center announced the partnership with Burbank, California-based BRC Imagination Arts in a news release dated this past Tuesday, framing the project as a way to carry Muhammad Ali's values into a new era.
According to The Courier-Journal, BRC Imagination Arts was chosen through a competitive process in 2025 and will guide the project end to end, from visioning and design through delivery. The redesign effort is being led by Lonnie Ali, the Center's co-founder and interim president and CEO, who invited Louisvillians and anyone inspired by Muhammad Ali to help shape the project moving forward.
“Muhammad welcomed everyone,” Lonnie Ali said, according to the Courier-Journal's reporting, adding that Muhammad Ali believed that believing in something greater than himself was the surest way to find personal greatness. She said BRC understands that the Center should carry those values into everyday life, and that the firm shares the Center's belief that a heartfelt story can change how people live — with hopes the message reaches young people everywhere.
A Firm With NASA and Rock Hall Credentials
BRC Imagination Arts is based in Burbank, California, as blooloop reports, and its portfolio includes the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. The firm's own website describes decades of work with the space agency, saying NASA has asked BRC to help tell its story at Kennedy Space Center for more than 30 years, according to BRC Imagination Arts. That work has included the Apollo Saturn V Center and the Shuttle Launch Experience, along with overall vision planning for the space complex's visitor experience.
BRC also says it helped shift the Kennedy Space Center narrative away from settled history and toward future possibility through an exhibit called Journey to Mars: Explorers Wanted, per the company's account of its own work. The firm frames the Ali Center project in similar terms: shaped by listening to the Louisville community and global perspectives, the reimagined Center will carry Muhammad Ali's values into a new era, BRC states on its website.
More Than 30 Hours of Community Listening
The Center and BRC said they had already conducted more than 30 hours of listening sessions with 20 community and stakeholder groups, and that collaboration would continue as the project's vision develops, per the news release cited by the Courier-Journal. WLKY reports that the redesign remains in the design phase, and that specific details — including a timeline — are still forthcoming.
BRC chief creative officer Christian Lachel said the firm will help the Ali Center become a living expression of conviction and compassion for future generations and visitors worldwide, according to the Courier-Journal's account. BRC president Carmel Lewis said Muhammad Ali gave his time and his home to other people, and that the Center carries his spirit forward — adding that BRC feels a sense of responsibility working alongside Lonnie Ali and her team.
Building On Six Core Principles
The redesign project will build on Muhammad Ali's six core principles — confidence, conviction, dedication, giving, respect and spirituality — according to the Courier-Journal's reporting on the announcement. The Center, founded in 2005 by Muhammad and Lonnie Ali, says it preserves and teaches his legacy and principles while aiming to inspire greatness in everyone who enters, per the news release.
The Center's learning programs aim to cultivate curious and courageous young leaders, while its community work aims to help grow a more compassionate world, the release states. According to the EIN Presswire announcement cited in the Courier-Journal's reporting, the Center welcomes more than 80,000 visitors and 8,000 students each year, underscoring the scale of the audience the redesign is meant to serve. As WLKY notes, the enhancements are intended to carry forward Muhammad Ali's principles and teachings in the city he called home.
