In Great Accord – ENU in NYC

In Great Accord: The Accordion and the Immigrant City
Exhibit Run: June 20th, 2026 – July 5th, 2026“In Great

Accord: The Accordion and the Immigrant City” explored the accordion through the lens of immigrant traditions in New York City, tracing how communities from around the world made the instrument their own. On viewing was at City Lore Gallery from June 20 through July 5, 2026.  The exhibition celebrated the music, makers, and cultural traditions that have shaped the city’s diverse identity. From beer halls in the Lower East Side to cumbia clubs in Queens, the accordion has traveled the boroughs in the hands of immigrants, becoming a vessel for memory, identity, and belonging in New York City’s ever-changing neighborhoods. Carried across oceans and borders by waves of newcomers — German, Italian, Eastern European, Mexican, to name a few — the instrument took root in the city’s streets, dance halls, and living rooms, absorbing the sounds and stories of each community that embraced it. In Great Accord: The Accordion and the Immigrant City traces this rich and layered history through archival photographs, recordings, and artifacts that illuminate the accordion’s journey through New York’s cultural landscape. Contemporary interviews with musicians and community members bring the story into the present, offering a testament to the instrument’s enduring place in the life of the city, and the people who have claimed this unlikely instrument as their own, transforming it into a living archive of the immigrant experience.

Presented by the Association for Cultural Equity in partnership with Enu Builds and City Lore.  This program is made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.