Music once again in the air at the NCMA outdoor park with new jukebox program

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Music is once again filling the air at the North Carolina Museum of Art's 164-acre outdoor park after months of cancelled events due to the pandemic.

Each weekday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and weekends from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the NCMA Jukebox plays over speakers at the museum's outdoor amphitheater with pre-recorded music, curated by Moses Alexander Greene, the NCMA director of performing arts and film and NCMA manager of concerts and music programs Janette Hoffman. Much of the music selected is connected to the museum's programming or collections of artifacts.

"NCMA Jukebox is four hours of continuous curated music that comes from our collection," Greene said. "It reflects our collection here at the museum, but it also reflects the interests of our patrons."

Jazz was the number one genre that people said but you also will hear orchestral pop music you will hear Appalachian folk music, Americana and you'll hear a little bit of Bob Marley.

"It's a great cross-section of music that represents all of the people who visit the museum," Greene said.

Greene said the museum's outdoor park is seeing a record number of visitors with more than 109,000 in September alone.

The NCMA Jukebox has been a hit with visitors since it began in early December and Greene said it is just the start of innovative ways to enhance visitors' experiences to the park.

"You're going to see more music, more dance, more theater on the other side of COVID," Greene said. "Everything from Shakespeare in the Park which we are very excited about to more performative art within the collection and outside the galleries here. We know music is universal. It just seemed like a natural it and allows us to extend our season past the usual cutoff of September all the way until the weather changes," he added.