Program areas at The Center for the Performing Arts
Artistic performance: The mission of The nonprofit Center for The Performing Arts is to engage and inspire The Indiana community through enriching Arts experiences. Its campus includes a 1,500-seat concert hall, The paladium; a 500-seat theater, The tarkington; and The black-box studio theater. The Center presents and hosts hundreds of events each year, including The Center presents performance season, featuring The best in classical, jazz, pop, rock, country, comedy and other genres. The Center is home to The affiliated great american songbook foundation and provides space and support services for six resident Arts companies. Since opening in 2011, The campus has hosted more than 2,900 performances for over 1.2 milion ticketed patrons from all 92 counties in Indiana, all 50 states and 30-plus nations.
Education and outreach: The Center serves The community through a range of educational experiences and outreach events, including music and dance classes, internships, campus tours, masterclasses, clinics, exclusive artist q&a sessions for students, The peanut butter & jam preschool performance series, The paladium bookies reading club, The luminaries weekday speaker series and The new works artist commission program. In response to The global pandemic, The Center has invested in digital streaming technology and has made much of its artistic and educational programming available online to audiences worldwide. The permanently affiliated great american songbook foundation was founded in 2007 by performer and preservationist michael feinstein with a mission to inspire and educate by celebrating The great american songbook. The foundation is home to a public exhibit gallery and The vast songbook library & archives, which preserves artifacts, arrangements, correspondence and other materials from The personal collections of composers, performers and other figures from The 20th century foundational era of american popular music. Each year The foundation conducts The songbook academy summer intensive, a leading national program for high school singers that is dedicated to The music of The songbook. The foundation also recognizes lifetime achievement in support of The songbook by inducting songwriters, singers and other artists into The great american songbook hall of fame.