U.S. Music Hub To Be Established at Esplanade Library

June 6, 2007

The Office of Public Affairs provided a grant to enable the visit to Singapore of the Director and a Board member of the New York-based ARChive of Contemporary Music, a non-profit collection of contemporary music. The ARChive officers visited Singapore June 4-6 to conclude plans with the National Library Board (NLB) to set up an Asian hub here to house part of the ARChive's collection. The Esplanade Library, the NLB's performing arts library, will receive and house a significant collection of ARChive materials. These materials will comprise American music in various genres, reflecting American life and culture, as well as significant music materials and instruments acquired by the ARChive from around Asia. The ARChive materials will complement the existing Esplanade Library music collection targeted at students, scholars, researchers, musicians, composers, and the music and performing arts industry. The embassy has donated music-oriented scores, videos, CDs, and reference materials to the Esplanade Library, an “American Connections” partner of the embassy.

The visit of ARChive's senior personnel helped establish an important ARChive-NLB partnership, complementing the strong partnership between the Embassy and the NLB. The "Singapore ARChive" of materials will allow students, educators, historians, musicians, authors, and journalists in Singapore to access America's rich musical heritage, especially works of the past forty years.