The GRAMMY Museum Experience is set to open this fall on the ground floor of the Prudential Center in Downtown Newark. The Newark Housing Authority-owned arena, which is already home to the New Jersey Devils hockey team, the Seton Hall Pirates men’s basketball team, special events, and concerts, opened its doors nearly a decade ago near Newark Penn Station in the city’s central business district, and is one of its most visited attractions. The new museum could bring thousands more to the area.
An event hosted by WCBS 2 anchor Kristine Johnson was held on Tuesday, February 7th to announce the plans for the upcoming attraction.
“It’s a great day to be in Newark”, said New Jersey Devils owner Josh Harris, who was joined at the ceremony by Prudential Center CEO Scott O’Neil, Newark Public Schools Superintendent Christopher Cerf, Deputy Mayor Baye Adofo-Wilson, GRAMMY Museum Executive Director Bob Santelli, Cissy Houston, Bill Charlap, Treach and Vinnie from Naughty by Nature, Jax, and other notable New Jerseyans, including student members of the All Stars Project.
“Newark, even though it’s sort of a small city, has a lot of talent”, Adofo-Wilson told attendees, adding that the new museum will add “another layer of richness to the city that will really last a lifetime”.
The first GRAMMY Museum opened in Downtown Los Angeles’ L.A. Live complex in 2008. Last year, an additional location came to the campus of Delta State University in Cleveland, a small city in rural Mississippi, and a GRAMMY gallery opened within the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.
According to a statement, Newark “is an ideal location for the GRAMMY Museum Experience”, which will be an 8,000 square foot attraction containing “interactive features, tributes to local music icons, and a robust education center accessible for schools throughout the Tri-State area” when completed. Like at the other GRAMMY Museum locations, exhibits will highlight the recording process, and will include a “how-to tutorial that teaches visitors how to rap while providing insight into the mixing/remixing song experience”, a gallery about the history of the GRAMMY Awards, a section on New Jersey artists, and Roland LIVE, which “provides visitors with a real-life simulation experience of performing onstage”. A variety of programming for local residents, including children, will be offered.
Ticket prices for the Newark location have not yet been set. Admission to the Los Angeles location currently costs $12.95 for adults, while tickets to the Mississippi location are priced at $12.
