The AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas, Texas, preliminarily referred to as the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, is a $354-million multi-venue center in the Dallas Arts District for performances of opera, musical theater, classic and experimental theater, ballet and other forms of dance. It opened with a dedication by city leaders on October 12, 2009. [1]
Three major architectural firms Foster and Partners (based in London), Office for Metropolitan Architecture (based in Rotterdam and New York City), and REX (based in New York) each designed portions of the center.
The AT&T Performing Arts Center includes four venues and an urban park:
The AT&T Performing Arts Center provides homes for five resident companies: the Dallas Opera, Dallas Theater Center, Texas Ballet Theater, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, and Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico. In addition, the center will also produce original programming and partner with local and national organizations to present a wide range of cultural performances, including music, dance, Broadway shows, concerts and lectures. SHN consults with the center on its Broadway series. [2]
In its inaugural 2009–2010 season at the center hosted more than 500 performances, including four world premieres, with performers Billy Crystal, Frank Langella, Hilary Swank, tenors José Carreras and Ben Heppner, jazz greats Ramsey Lewis, Al Jarreau and many others.
The initial campaign began in 2000 with a goal of raising $275 million including forty gifts of $1 million. Only $18 million of the total budget for the project was publicly funded (more than 93% of funding coming from private sources).
In January 2008, campaign funding reached $275 million. [3]
The two largest gifts came earlier in the campaign: $42 million from Margot and Bill Winspear in 2002 and $20 million from Dee and Charles Wyly and Cheryl and Sam Wyly in 2004. The third largest gift was given in September 2008: a $15 million gift from Sammons Enterprises, Inc. in honor of Elaine D. and Charles A. Sammons.
Groundbreaking was November 2005 and dedication was on October 12, 2009, followed by a Grand Opening week with various performances, concerts, and architecture forums. Kevin Duncan produced the grand opening concerts and productions. [4] A community open house was held Sunday, October 18, 2009, and featured free outdoor concerts, performance art, family activities and fireworks.
On September 15, 2009, AT&T announced the naming-rights agreement for the performance facility. [5] As part of the deal, The center will be one of the most technologically advanced performing arts venues in the country, equipped with AT&T Wi-Fi service and complimentary Internet access to patrons. AT&T will also offer unique mobile applications to AT&T wireless subscribers. [6]
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a 16.3-acre (6.6-hectare) complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 million visitors annually. It houses internationally renowned performing arts organizations including the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Juilliard School.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. It was named in 1964 as a memorial to assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Opened on September 8, 1971, the center hosts many different genres of performance art, such as theater, dance, orchestras, jazz, pop, psychedelic, and folk music.
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on 117 acres (47 ha) of national park land in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, near the town of Vienna. Through a partnership and collaboration of the National Park Service and the non-profit Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, the park offers both natural and cultural resources.
The Arts District is a performing and visual arts district in downtown Dallas, Texas.
The Hult Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts venue in Eugene, Oregon.
The Straz Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts venue in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1987 as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, and was renamed in 2009.
The Houston Theater District, a 17-block area in the heart of Downtown Houston, Texas, United States, is home to Houston's nine professional performing arts organizations, the 130,000-square-foot (12,000 m2) Bayou Place entertainment complex, restaurants, movies, plazas, and parks. More than two million people visit the Houston Theater District annually.
Dallas is a city in Texas, United States.
The Dallas Theater Center is a major regional theater in Dallas, Texas, United States. It produces classic, contemporary, and new plays and was the 2017 Tony Award recipient for Best Regional Theater.
The Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance is a 1,499-seat theater for the performing arts located along the northern edge of Millennium Park on Randolph Street in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, US. The theater, which is largely underground due to Grant Park-related height restrictions, was named for its primary benefactors, Joan and Irving Harris. It serves as the park's indoor performing venue, a complement to Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which hosts the park's outdoor performances.
The Charles W. Eisemann Center, for Performing Arts and Corporate Presentations is a performance hall which opened in September 2002 in Richardson, Texas. The center is named for local philanthropist, Charles W. Eisemann, in recognition of a US$2,000,000 gift from the Eisemann Foundation Fund of The Communities Foundation of Texas. It is the primary performance venue for the Plano Symphony Orchestra and the Richardson Symphony Orchestra.
The Kalita Humphreys Theater is a historic theater in Dallas, Texas (USA). It is the only theater by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and one of the last completed buildings he designed. It was built in 1959 for Dallas Theater Center who still produces original productions on the revolving stage. Other Dallas theater groups also use the Kalita Humphreys Theater throughout the year, including Uptown Players and Second Thought Theater.
The Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre is a theatre at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). It is one of four venues that comprise the AT&T Performing Arts Center and was dedicated October 12, 2009. The 80,300-square-foot building is twelve stories tall and holds about 600 people, depending upon the stage configuration. It is the new venue for the Dallas Theater Center, Dallas Black Dance Theatre and Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico.
The Elaine D. and Charles A. Sammons Park is a public park in the new AT&T Performing Arts Center, located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). The park opened on October 12, 2009, and weaves together the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, Annette Strauss Artist Square and City Performance Hall. It includes canopies of mature trees, large expanses of grass and a series of gardens, reflecting pools, promenades and walkways.
The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House is an opera house located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA).
The Texas Ballet Theater was founded by Margo Dean in 1961 as the Fort Worth Ballet Association, in Fort Worth, Texas. At the invitation of Dean, Fernando Schaffenburg was invited to direct the company the following year. It became a fully professional ballet company in 1985. In 1988, after the demise of Dallas Ballet, the company began adding performances of The Nutcracker in Dallas in a business partnership with The Dallas Opera, producing Nutcracker performances in The Music Hall and using The Dallas Opera Orchestra.
Annette Strauss Square is an 128,000 sq ft (11,900 m2) outdoor performance facility in the AT&T Performing Arts Center, located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). It is the city's premier outdoor performing arts venue and a defining feature of the Elaine D. and Charles A. Sammons Park. Annette Strauss Square hosts a variety of outdoor events ranging from concerts to theatrical and dance performances to multi-day festivals, accommodating audiences of up to 5,000.
The Sammons Center for the Arts is a nationally recognized arts incubator in Dallas, Texas that offers office, meeting, rehearsal, audition and performance space to local arts organizations. It is housed in the old Turtle Creek Pump Station, a landmark building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It opened in 1988. The organization assists local performing artists, arts groups, and efforts related to arts education. It houses 14 arts organizations that represent different disciplines of performing arts. Over 90 other organizations use the center for rehearsals, performances and other events. As of 2019, Joanna St. Angelo serves as its executive director with Michael Cook serving as assistant director.