The ARChive of Contemporary Music based in NYC is currently in its 39th year of operation, housing the largest popular music collection in the world. The institution has announced it urgently seeks a new permanent home, facing an uncertain future.
Founded by current director B. George and the late David Wheeler in 1985, the ARC contains more than three million sound recordings, which is 90+ million songs. Each recording is preserved in all known formats, with 700,000 records being electronically cataloged, and 400,000 digitized. ARC also houses more than three million pieces of material including photographs, videos, DVDs, books, magazines, press kits, sheet music, ephemera, and memorabilia. The collection is extremely rare and valuable, and without proper funding, these collections could disappear forever.
Through a generous donation of facilities by André Balazs, the collection has been safe and in storage for nearly three years. Collecting and cataloging have continued, but strict zoning laws prevent ARC’s expansion and public access. The ARC has received an anonymous donation of one million dollars to help the institution move out of its current Hudson Valley space, but more is very urgently needed.
The initial donations provide the first step in constructing a new facility that will allow students, educators, historians, musicians, authors, journalists as well as fans, and the general public access to it. The donations will also help the expansion of educational programming, community gatherings, listening events, and more, making ARC’s ultimate goal of the creation of The Center for Popular Music in New York happen.
Collections that are currently at risk include Keith Richards’ Blues Collection, one of the most extensive collections of blues and R&B recordings in the world, funded by Richards for more than 16 years, as well as their Zero Freitas Brazilian Music Collection which has made ARC home to the largest collection of Brazilian music outside of Brazil. Others include The Jeep Holland Collection, which contains more than 125,000 classic rock and pop recordings and over 2500 signed albums from the likes of the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, and Sex Pistols, and the Jonathan Demme Haitian Music Collection contains ARC board member Jonathan Demme’s personal collection of Haitian albums.
The ARChive is also home to massive collections of mint or sealed recordings from the estates of Richard W. Zirinsky Jr., Mark Steven Jacobson, Malcom Forbes, and many others. ARC maintains leading collections of Broadway, African, Punk, Jazz, C&W, Folk, Hip-Hop, and Experimental recordings. Artists and music critics like John Rockwell, Jerry Bock, David Byrne, and Jon Pareles have trusted ARC to preserve their recordings, books, and papers.
For more information about The ARChive of Contemporary Music, visit here.
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