Charleston Gaillard Center Announces Five-Year Anniversary Celebration

The Gaillard Center on Monday announced a special performance in celebration of the venue’s fifth anniversary. On Sunday, October 18th, exactly five years since the inaugural Concert, the Five-Year Anniversary Celebration will feature a string quartet from the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Artist-in-Residence and Charleston’s first Poet Laureate Marcus Amaker, and Artist-in-Residence Emeritus and Grammy Award-winning Charlton Singleton.

The venue says they have implemented numerous measures to allow guests to safely gather within the Martha and John M. Rivers Performance Hall. This celebratory event will have options for patrons to either attend in-person and socially distanced, or experience the show virtually through online streaming.

Tickets for the in-person event go on sale Thursday, September 3th at 11 am. In-person tickets are $25 (plus applicable fees) and have limited availability. Tickets for the live stream are $10. Members receive pre-sale access. To become a Charleston Gaillard Center Member, contact their Development Office at development@gaillardcenter.org or (843) 579-6468.

“The past six months have been exceedingly difficult for our entire community,” Stephen A. Bedard, President and CEO of the Charleston Gaillard Center, said. “When our performance hall closed in March, we pivoted to providing high-quality and creative virtual opportunities for our patrons. It was also important for our programing to continue to support the local artistic community. We are delighted that one of our first in-person events as we return to the Martha and John M. Rivers Performance Hall, is one that not only celebrates this world-class theater, but also the patrons and artists that have supported us during this time. I cannot wait to welcome you all back – at a safe social distance! In the future, the Gaillard Center hopes to continue the celebration in a larger capacity with a full hall and all of our community partners.”

The Gaillard Center provided the following history of the venue:

The renovation of the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium into the Charleston Gaillard Center’s state-of-the-art 1,800-seat theater and 15,000-square foot Exhibition Hall began in 2012 with a public-private partnership between Martha Rivers Ingram and Mayor Joseph P. Riley. With a robust fundraising campaign from the Gaillard Center Performance Hall Foundation, the Gaillard Center reopened in October 2015 as a nonprofit organization.

Ms. Ingram noted, “It is a great privilege to have worked with Mayor Joe Riley and members of Charleston City Council to help bring about the new Gaillard for the people of the Tri-County area. New opportunities for both entertainment and education will be readily available in this beautiful, new Gaillard.”

In five years, the Gaillard Center has welcomed close to 750,000 local and international guests for over 900 events in our Grand Ballroom and the Martha and John M. Rivers Performance Hall. Together we have celebrated the holidays with the wondrous Vienna Boys Choir, enjoyed the remarkable talents of Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, marveled at the beauty of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and sung along with Little Big Town for two sold-out shows. We have also had the honor of hosting two Democratic National Presidential Primary Debates, as well as Charleston-based organizations like Spoleto Festival, USA, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition.

Providing fully-funded access to arts education for every Lowcountry student is a core value of the Charleston Gaillard Center and the foundation of Ms. Ingram’s vision. In five years, the Gaillard Center has hosted over 89,000 students, with almost 61,000 students attending completely free, including the cost of bus transportation. Additionally, our educators, Artists-in-Residence, and teaching artists have taught over 1,100 in-school workshops to students throughout the Lowcountry.

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