Moment NYC - The Museum of Music & Entertainment in New York City

09/10/2026

NYC 1970s Jazz History - Archive/Panel/Alumni Performance

Revisiting MUSE: a museum for the people – MUSE alumni band / Exhibition / Panel
Exhibit / Panel / Live Performance
Alumni Band coordinated by Craig Harris
​Rare archival footage ​& artifacts​
Discussion – artistic labor, collective practice, and cultural sustainability

Saturday, September 19th | 4:00 PM
Sunday, September 20th | 6:00 PM

ShapeShifter Lab, 837 Union St., Brooklyn, NY
Open to the Public (Suggested Donation: $20)
Tickets & RSVP / LINK IN BIO: https://www.shapeshifterplus.org/eventDetails.html?eventId=pAA7lgMacu

An important yet relatively unknown piece of NYC music history, MUSE operated in Crown Heights from 1968 through the 1980s. Master musicians such as Reggie Workman, Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Akua Dixon, McCoy Tyner, Jerry Gonzales, Rashid Ali, Jimmy Garrison, Sam Rivers, Billy Higgins, Sonny Fortune, Bill Lee, and many others came to MUSE, which became a hub for musicians. It provided affordable lessons, concerts, and resources for musicians, as well as community services—supporting tenants’ rights, the Crow’s Hill Festival, and much more. MUSE also created publications such as “Black Contributions to the Development of Brooklyn” and hosted exhibits on jazz history, New Guinea, and many other subjects for its younger visitors, who were the original focus of the site when it was an annex of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Through years of regular concerts, jam sessions, classes, and exhibits, MUSE—which separated from the Children’s Museum in 1975 and became the New MUSE—served thousands of people in the Brooklyn area.

Focused largely on MUSE as a music center, the exhibit will include live music, ​rare footage and artifacts, and a panel discussion that will touch on artistic labor, collective practice, and cultural sustainability in the context of African American rising consciousness of Black Culture and awareness in Brooklyn during this era.

Follow us for updates on Instagram and Facebook

, , ,

, , , , #

09/09/2026

MUSE 1970s Jazz History- Archive/Panel/Alumni Performance- https://mailchi.mp/momentnyc/muse

Focused largely on MUSE as a music center, the exhibit will include live music, ​rare footage and artifacts, and a panel discussion that will touch on artistic labor, collective practice, and cultural sustainability in the context of African American and Black Culture and awareness in Brooklyn during this era.

08/31/2026

A great piece about sound system history and the power of sound from our friends at UPA.

Fascist, Capitalist & Military Gear: Power, Control & the Struggle for Sonic Agency. By Raz Mesinai | UPA Sound System Studies

08/23/2026

Revisiting MUSE: a museum for the people – MUSE • alumni band / Exhibition / Panel

The story of an extraordinary community museum for music, art, science, dance, poetry, and Black history in Brooklyn that most people have never heard of.

An important yet relatively unknown piece of NYC music history, MUSE operated in Crown Heights from 1968 through the 1980s. Legendary musicians such as Max Roach, Archie Shepp, McCoy Tyner, Jerry Gonzales, Rashid Ali, Jimmy Garrison, Sam Rivers, Billy Higgins, Sonny Fortune, Bill Lee, and many others came to MUSE, which became a hub for musicians. It provided affordable lessons, concerts, and resources for musicians, as well as community services—supporting tenants’ rights, the Crow’s Hill Festival, and much more. MUSE also created publications such as Black Contributions to the Development of Brooklyn and hosted exhibits on jazz history, New Guinea, and many other subjects for its younger visitors, who were the original focus of the site when it was an annex of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Through years of regular concerts, jam sessions, classes, and exhibits, MUSE—which separated from the Children’s Museum in 1975 and became the New MUSE—served thousands of people in the Brooklyn area.

September 19th and 20th at ShapeShifter Lab, 837 Union St., Brooklyn, with live performances by the MUSE Alumni Band, with musical coordination by Craig Harris - trombone, Rachiim Ausar-Sahu - bass, Akua Dixon - cello, Ronald Griffin - piano, Richard Harper - piano, Ricardo Strobert - sax, special guests TBA, and DJ Barry Cole. Focused largely on MUSE as a music center, the exhibit will include live music, artifacts, and a panel discussion. Please join our mailing list to get updates on project dates and performers.

Private reunion reception for MUSE / New MUSE patrons, alumni, faculty, friends, and family on Sat. Sept. 19th from 4-6pm. To register email: [email protected]

Open to the public
Sat 19th 4pm - 11pm
Sun 20th 6pm -11pm

Suggested donation $20 ShapeShifter Plus ShapeShifter Lab Craig Harris

08/19/2026

Revisiting MUSE: a museum for the people – MUSE alumni band / Exhibition / Panel

The story of an extraordinary community museum for music, art, science, dance, poetry, and Black history in Brooklyn that most people have never heard of. Crown Heights in the 1970s: as New York City navigated economic disaster, and America at large grappled with the aftermath of the many sociopolitical movements and events of the 1960s—civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, anti-war protests, environmental awareness, sexual and drug liberation, busing, and the assassinations of our leaders and citizens—jazz musicians in New York City were creating their own reality of tradition, invention, and human connection in the essentially underground jazz lofts and places like MUSE. This exhibition situates MUSE as a historically specific but instructive example of self-organized cultural infrastructure, and considers its relevance to contemporary questions of artistic labor, collective practice, and cultural sustainability. An important yet relatively unknown piece of NYC music history, MUSE operated in Crown Heights from 1968 though the 1980s. Legendary musicians such as Max Roach, Archie Shepp, McCoy Tyner, Jerry Gonzales, Rashid Ali, Jimmy Garrison, Sam Rivers, Billy Higgins, Sonny Fortune, Bill Lee, and many others came to MUSE, which became a hub for musicians. It provided affordable lessons, concerts, and resources for musicians, as well as community services—supporting tenants’ rights, the Crow’s Hill Festival, and much more. MUSE also created publications such as Black Contributions to the Development of Brooklyn and hosted exhibits on jazz history, New Guinea, and many other subjects for its younger visitors, who were the original focus of the site when it was an annex of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Through years of regular concerts, jam sessions, classes, and exhibits, MUSE—which separated from the Children’s Museum in 1975 and became the New MUSE—served thousands of people in the Brooklyn area.

The MUSE exhibit, presented in collaboratipon with ShapeShifter Plus will be open on September 19th and 20th at ShapeShifter Lab, 837 Union St., Brooklyn, with live performances by the MUSE Alumni Band, with musical coordination by Craig Harris - trombone, Rachiim Ausar-Sahu - bass, Akua Dixon - cello, Ronald Griffin - piano, Richard Harper - piano, Ricardo Strobert - sax, special guests TBA, and DJ Barry Cole. Focused largely on MUSE as a music center, the exhibit will include live music, artifacts, and a panel discussion. Please join our mailing list to get updates on project dates and performers.

There will be a private reunion gathering for MUSE / New MUSE patrons, alumni, faculty, friends, and family on Sat. Sept. 19th from 4-6pm. To register email: [email protected]

Open to the public
Sat 19th 4pm - 11pm
Sun 20th 6pm -11pm

Suggested donation $20

Revisiting MUSE: A Museum for the People is still gathering memories and artifacts from the community that help tell the story of MUSE, to accompany the archive of this exhibit. If you have a story, memory, or artifact from MUSE, please submit your contribution through the link or by scanning the QR code on the second slide

, , ,

, , , ,

This MOMENT NYC project is part of the Municipal Arts Society of NY's Enduring Culture Initiative, and supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

08/09/2026

07/25/2026

Spread the word!

From Kiki:

If you’re around lower east side at 4pm today! Un jam pa Chino y Angie across from 367 e 10th street at the murals at 10th between b & c street . My great mentor Chino transitioned yesterday.

Date: July 25th
Time: 4pm
Location: 10th street between B & C

07/09/2026

“I think music should be judged on what it is. It should be very high and above everything else. It is a beautiful way of bringing people together, a little bit of an oasis in this messed-up world.”—Sonny Rollins (September 7, 1930 - May 25, 2026)

Photo by Milton Meltzer, Sonny Rollins portrait collection. Visit our Photographs and Prints Division to experience more. https://ow.ly/SC1H50ZhSgt