It’s an outdoor exhibition that New Yorkers can not only see, but hear. 

Twenty-one shadowboxes placed around Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoHo — an interactive outdoor exhibition called Village Voices. It's presented by Village Preservation, the more than 40-year-old organization that works to preserve the architecture and cultural history of these historic neighborhoods. 

What You Need To Know

  • Village Voices is an outdoor interactive exhibition located throughout the East and West Villages and NoHo

  • The exhibition features shadowboxes paying tribute to famous people who lived or made their mark in the neighborhood
  • A QR code allows New Yorkers to use smartphones to hear the stories narrated by celebrities like Alec Baldwin, John Leguizamo and Kathleen Chalfant

"A lot of what we do is to both help preserve and celebrate and perpetuate that history and that's a lot of what Village Voices is about, this exhibition that we are sharing with the public,” said Andrew Berman, the executive director of Village Preservation. 

Along the way there is singer/songwriter and poet Patti Smith, aids activist and playwright Larry Kramer, Poet E.E. Cummings. The QR codes allow folks walking by to hear Greenwich Village resident celebrities tell the stories, including actors Alec Baldwin, John Leguizamo, Edward Norton, Norman Reedus and Kathleen Chalfant. 

Village Voices is a Covid-Era alternative to Village Preservation's annual benefit house tour, so there is a fundraising and public education element. 

Find out about Playwright Lorraine Hansberry, who wrote "A Raisin in the Sun" while living in the village, or Jane Jacobs, the activist who lead the fight against a Robert Moses plan to build an expressway through Lower Manhattan.

"The issues that are embodied in these shadow boxes and the people whose work we are trying to highlight is as relevant and present today as it was 60 or 75 years ago when they did this incredible work,” said Berman. 

You can see, and hear, Village Voices through October 13.

Find out more here.