Where Newburgh Still Sings: An Exhibition of Sight and Sound; A Representation of the City’s Rich Musical History

Join us for a special talk with artist and curator Maia Jarrett, who will share her research on Newburgh's music history and her creation of the soundscape and exhibition. Saturday, Oct 24 at 12 p.m.

On view Saturday, Oct 24 and Sunday, Oct 25, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

During late October, a photography and sound exhibition, curated by Maia Jarrett, will showcase large-format prints of Newburgh's musical landscape —from spaces once filled with music and now held up by cracked floorboards to renewed and still-active venues such as the Ritz Theatre and The Ellis. Rooted in extensive ethnomusicological research, the exhibition uncovers and documents the city's rich musical history, revealing sites of cultural significance that span from the late 18th century to the present. Historic texts will accompany each photograph and soundscape, offering new insight into Newburgh's musical past and its relationship to the city's evolving landscape.

Alongside the visuals, a mastered soundscape will feature the sounds of Newburgh—trains, factories, plant concerts, the Hudson River, and the voices of Newburgh residents and artists. Video installations of ambient musicians Johan Tavarez and Maia Jarrett revitalizing underused spaces with sound will be projected throughout the exhibition. Through these artistic mediums, Maia Jarrett's ethnomusicology project identifies and maps sites of cultural importance, illuminating the enduring relationship between person and place, sound and sight. By combining historical research with photography, sound, and video, the exhibition reveals new layers of Newburgh's cultural landscape and highlights the city's rich musical history through experimental visual and sonic mediums.

Maia Jarrett and her project, The Ethnomusicology of Newburgh, is a McHenry Award winner in the Arts category. In honor of Barney McHenry’s contributions and accomplishments, the Open Space Institute has established and administers an award to celebrate his leadership and foster future leaders in the Hudson River Valley. The annual award is used to provide financial support to promising young leaders and exemplary projects that make significant contributions to environmental conservation, environmental justice, historic preservation, tourism, and the arts in the Hudson River Valley.