One of the world’s largest collections of recorded music has found a permanent home in Connecticut.
The Archive of Contemporary Music, a nonprofit repository of more than 3 million sound recordings that was forced out of New York City by soaring rents, has purchased a commercial building in Ridgefield where it plans to open a public archive and cultural destination by 2028.
The archive, known as ARC, closed in late July on its purchase of the two-story, 18,000-square-foot former Schimenti building at 650 Danbury Road, the Ridgefield Economic & Community Development Commission announced.
The purchase price was not disclosed. The property had been listed for sale at $2.7 million after Schimenti Construction relocated to Westchester County, New York, in 2023. It was marketed as an owner-user office building.
Founded in 1985, ARC bills itself as America’s largest archive dedicated to popular music and contemporary recorded sound. Its holdings span more than 3,000 musical genres and include more than 3 million recordings, along with thousands of photographs, books, magazines, videos, sheet music and other artifacts documenting recorded music since 1945.
The purchase ends a yearslong search for a permanent home. Co-founder and Director B. George launched ARC in a lower Manhattan loft before the organization settled in Tribeca, where it remained until 2020. Rising rents and limited space forced the archive to close its longtime New York location, and the collection has since been housed in a storage facility in Dutchess County donated by hotelier André Balazs.
In Ridgefield, ARC plans to transform the property into both an archival center and public attraction, featuring rotating exhibitions, listening rooms, lectures, educational programs and community events.
“Ridgefield offers exactly the kind of community where ARC can grow for generations,” George said. “We’re excited to become part of the town’s extraordinary arts community and to create a place where people can discover, experience and celebrate music together.”
Gov. Ned Lamont called the move “a testament to Connecticut’s enduring commitment to creativity, innovation, and preserving our shared cultural heritage.”
The building will also become home to the offices and recordings of the Peabody Award-winning public radio program Afropop Worldwide. Its collection of more than 40,000 recordings, combined with ARC’s 7,000-disc African music collection, will create one of the world’s largest repositories of African and African diaspora music.
ARC also Rolling Stones’ guitarist Keith Richards’ endowed blues collection of more than 21,000 recordings.
The archive’s board of advisers includes Richards, Paul Simon, Nile Rodgers, Q-Tip, Martin Scorsese, Todd Rundgren, Fred Schneider, Youssou N’Dour, Jellybean Benitez and Mike Stoller. Over the years, ARC has supplied research and music for productions including “Goodfellas,” “Philadelphia,” “That Thing You Do” and Ken Burns’ “Baseball,” according to Billboard.
Ridgefield officials said the archive is expected to become a cultural attraction that draws visitors to the Route 7 corridor.
