Shelf Life: New Works Made from the Archives

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

The Price of Public Funding 

In January the Library of Performing Arts gave some insight into the value it adds by giving six
composers, performers and writers unrestricted access to the archives and asking them to come up with something new. The results were performed at Lincoln Center on Monday night in "Shelf Life: New Works Made from the Archives". They included three new substantial musical compositions (including a drum concerto based on NY street noises in the sound archive), a one act play with music about Eva LeGalliene and Edward Molyneux, a multimedia performance piece about the passing of time and an illustrated song cycle about genocide and dispossession. The audience seemed not only awestruck by this outpouring of creativity, but also dazzled that all this could be brought about for the meagre price of public library funding.