The management of the Music Box Village, one of the Crescent City’s creative gems, recently canceled the balance of the entertainment venue’s  2023 season and closed its website functions, leaving fans concerned about its fate.

“We are in a transitional phase,” wrote Music Box curator Leah Hennessey in a text message. We “concluded our fall programming a little early to ensure necessary strategic planning.”

Hennessey declined to provide further details.

The Music Box Village is so unique it’s difficult to describe. In 2011, a group of artists including Jayme Kalal, Ranjit Bhatnagar and Taylor Shepherd led by Delaney Martin and Jay Pennington used post-Hurricane Katrina debris to create a set of small houses that doubled as ingenious musical instruments.

In one house, visitors could create percussive rhythms by pressing on the floorboards. Another produced gurgling sounds of vintage plumbing on command. In another, a steel spiral staircase activated whistles.

Local rock maestro Quintron conducted concerts at the Music Box’s first location on Piety Street. In 2015 the sculptural houses were moved temporarily to a site on a former golf course in City Park where guest musicians performed.

Then, in 2016, the sculptural ensemble was relocated permanently to a former metal fabricating shop at 4557 N. Rampart St. near the Industrial Canal in the Bywater neighborhood, where it became an eccentric site for regular concerts, events and private rentals.

Thanks to attention from the local and national press, the Music Box Village became had become a destination for adventuresome visitors to New Orleans.