Note: Authored by David Menconi, this piece has been produced in partnership with Raleigh Arts. Menconi's latest book, "Oh, Didn't They Ramble: Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music," was published in the fall of 2023 by University of North Carolina Press. His podcast, Carolina Calling, explores the history of the Tar Heel State through music.

In a typical year, the Joseph M. Bryan, Jr. Theater at Raleigh’s North Carolina Museum of Art would be in the midst of a busy concert season during the warm-weather summer months. But that's not happening this year (or possibly next). The 1,800-capacity outdoor venue is on hiatus for 2025 and probably 2026 as it undergoes some long-overdue renovations.

Nevertheless, the museum—which annually plays host to more than a million visitors—is anything but quiet during this period. Live performances have moved indoors with dance and music programs designed to “interpret form, story and silence” in the museum galleries.

“We see opportunities to do programming in galleries related to different exhibits, which we’ve found that people are very responsive to,” says Valerie Hillings, the museum’s director and CEO since 2018. “Dance groups and bands tend to be North Carolina talent, too, so it’s a good way to show off performing artists in the area. We’re a museum of the arts, so we want to figure out ways to do storytelling using all the elements to enhance the bigger story of what we’re showing. And we’re partnering with other entities to do programming elsewhere in the area, because we’re all stronger together when we pool resources.”

To that end, the museum is sponsoring a free outdoor film series at Moore Square in downtown Raleigh. The Friday evening schedule features the sort of family-friendly movies the museum would typically be screening on the side of its own East Building: “The Wild Robot” on July 18, “Wicked” on Aug. 22 and “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” on Sept. 26.

Meanwhile, the museum recently announced the addition of 14 new works to its permanent collection, “to expand on the cultural narratives currently presented in our galleries, question the distinctions between abstraction and representation, and investigate the role of dynamic movement in ritual traditions.”

And it still has a full slate of art exhibitions through the summer and into the fall.

On display through July 20 is the free exhibit David LaChapelle: Picture Show, and the ticketed Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention is up through Aug. 10. Opening on Aug. 9 is Then and There, Here and Now: Contemporary Visions of North Carolina, with an accompanying book fair.

As all of this goes on, infrastructure upgrades are already coming together, funded by “Reimagining the Possible.” A comprehensive fund-raising campaign goal with an ambitious goal of $75 million, it represents the museum foundation’s biggest such campaign ever. But it is already closing in on the goal after the “quiet phase,” which launched in 2022 and raised more than $64 million from sponsors. The public phase just started, and Hillings reports it’s going well.

“We’re getting very close, just shy of $67 million, and we’re working it every day,” she says. “Our goal is to finish by June 2026. I’m confident we’ll get there.”

Outdoor projects include restoring the stream in the Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park as well as upgrading the amphitheater, which opened in 1997. The venue is being renovated with redesigned features to increase both its accessibility and comfort, including bathroom upgrades, replacement of bleacher seating with around 500 seats and “pigeon mitigation” so that not so many birds will nest above the stage.

The indoor part of the project primarily involves the East Building, which was the museum’s original building when it opened on Blue Ridge Road in 1983. But it’s been overshadowed by the newer West Building, which opened in 2010. Plans call for the East Building’s lower level and back entrance to be converted into new, more useable multipurpose spaces.

^{Rendering provided by North Carolina Museum of Art}

“I’m particularly excited about that,” says Hillings. “We want to position the lower level as a social and creative space for connection, a welcoming place to relax, do programs, grab a coffee. It’s part of our goal of encouraging different ways of engaging with art, and we also want to do it with maximum flexibility. What people want in 2025 might change by 2027. So we need to be ready to meet their desires and needs.”

Current and upcoming exhibitions at NCMA

• “David LaChapelle: Picture Show,” through July 20 (free)
• “Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention,” through August 12 (ticketed)
• “Then and There, Here and Now: Contemporary Visions of North Carolina,” opening August 9 (through January 18, free)
• “The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt,” opening September 20 (through March 8, ticketed)

NCMA outdoor films at Moore Square (free)

• July 18: “The Wild Robot”
• Aug. 22: “Wicked”
• Sept. 26: “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”

Indoor films at NCMA’s SECU Auditorium (ticketed)

• July 11: “Babes”
• July 19: “Birdboy: The Forgotten Children”
• Aug. 8: “Can I Get a Witness?”
• Aug. 15: “Promare”

Notes on View: Free live music in the galleries

• July 26: Gregg Gelb Group, music inspired by Grace Hartigan
• Aug. 16: Gregg Gelb Group
• Sept. 13: Thomas Hinds
• Oct. 11 and Nov. 9: North Carolina Chamber Music Institute
• Dec. 14: Carolyn Colquitt

Still. Moving: Movement meets masterpieces from the People’s Collection

• July 12: Sunflower II by Joan Mitchell as interpreted by Dr. Kristi Vincent Johnson 
• Oct. 18: The Cathedral by Auguste Rodin as interpreted by Panoramic Dance Project
• Nov. 8: Isla (Tierra Prometida) by Yoan Capote as interpreted by Arts Together Rainbow Dance

Keep up with a full calendar of events happening at the museum here. The museum galleries are free and open from Wednesday through Sunday, 10am-5pm, at 2110 Blue Ridge Rd. in Raleigh.