I saw in Billboard that the ARC, the Archive of Contemporary Music, which was housed at 54 White for decades by founder and Tribecan b. George, might have to move from its Duchess County digs donated by the hotelier Andre Balazs. “The space we have now is zoned for agricultural storage and not for offices,” George told Billboard. “We could be forced to move at any time.” (Grimm gallery is now in their old space.)

The collection, which is made up of 3 million albums from the post-WWII “microgroove” era; a quarter million 78s; 6 million pieces of paper; 30,000 books; a collection of blues records funded by Keith Richards; signed records by any famous band you can think of but lots more unfamous ones, left Tribeca in 2020, when the rent could not fit into the organization’s $400K budget. George moved it to the gorgeous spread on 76 acres in Staatsburg, NY. The estate goes back a couple centuries, but in the last one, it was owned by the ex-wife of Vincent Astor (who built the manor house in the ’40s).

Billboard reports that ARC has already received an anonymous donation of $1 million to fund the move, though George estimates they need $10 million to relocate. “Ideally, a capital campaign will raise the $10 million and allow ARC to open a new facility, The Center for Popular Music, which would greatly expand its public offerings and allow students, educators, historians, musicians, journalists and fans to access the archives. ‘The goal is to be a free, welcoming place for research,’ George says. ‘We will develop public programming and events including movie nights, concerts, class courses, exhibitions, listening parties, conferences, seminars, lectures, workshops, record sales, record release parties — activities that support our mission and engage the community. Our mission will always remain preservation.'”