SC Humanities is proud to present the South Carolina state tour of New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music, a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition. The exhibit will travel to 12 communities in South Carolina in 2011 and 2012, visiting every Congressional District and region of the state. The statewide grand opening will take place in Gaffney at the Gaffney Visitor’s Center and Arts Gallery on Saturday, April 9, 2011.
The communities of Gaffney, Conway, Allendale, Walhalla, Laurens, Beaufort, Central, Winnsboro, York, Hartsville, Landrum, and Walterboro have been expressly chosen by SC Humanities to host New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music as part of the Museum on Main Street project – a national/state/local partnership to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations. The full tour schedule is attached.
Through a selection of photographs, recordings, instruments, lyrics and artist profiles, New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music will explore the distinct cultural identities of American roots music forms. The exhibition will examine the progression of American roots music, as rich and eclectic as our country itself. The exhibit is fun, educational, and interactive.
“Allowing all of our state’s residents to have access to the cultural resources of our nation’s premiere museum is a priority of SC Humanities”, said Randy Akers, Executive Director of SC Humanities. “With this special tour, we are pleased to be working with these 12 small towns to help develop local exhibitions and public programs to compliment the Smithsonian exhibition.”
The City of Gaffney is the first host on the statewide tour, and the exhibit will be displayed in the brand new Gaffney Visitor’s Center and Arts Gallery from April 9 – May 29, 2011. More than 25 free public programs have been planned by the City to coincide with the exhibit display, from concerts to instrument-making workshops for children to lunchtime lectures. The full schedule of special events in Gaffney can be found here: https://schumanities.org/projects/newharmonies/nhevents.
New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music is part of Museum on Main Street, a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), state humanities councils across the nation, and local host institutions. To learn more about New Harmonies and other Museum on Main Street exhibitions, visit http://www.museumonmainstreet.org/.
Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress and locally by QS/1. To learn more, visit http://www.sites.si.edu/ or www.schumanities.org.
