Public housing in America has long been an unsung cradle of American music. Elvis Presley, Barbara Streisand and Lupe Fiasco all lived and found inspiration in the communal spaces of public housing. From church choirs, piano lessons, marching bands or street jams, youth living in public housing have long found community and sometimes even fame. The National Public Housing Museum (NPHM) is the first cultural institution in the United States dedicated to interpreting the American experience in public housing. Opening to the public November 15th at Expo 72, 72 E. Randolph Street in Chicago, “The Sound, the Soul, the Syncopation” is an interactive exhibition of the long unexamined aspect of public housing that is being mounted by the NPHM in partnership with Groovebug and the Department of Cultural Affiars and Special Events. The exhibit is the first comprehensive look at the music and the artists that have emerged from the nation’s public housing experience, cultivating artists in a wide array of genres including country, hip-hop, punk, mass, gospel and pop.
National Public Housing Museum Official Website:
http://www.publichousingmuseum.org/
Groovebug Official Website:
http://groovebug.com/
