September gala event, challenge grant kick off Rockefeller’s 50th anniversary season
The Marvel Theatre production of "Anything Goes" during the 2018-2019 Walter Gloor Mainstage Series.
The Michael C. Rockefeller Arts Center will celebrate 50 years of bringing the arts to the community in the 2019-20 season with a year of special programming and a look to the future.
Rockefeller Arts Center began serving Western New York with music, theatre and dance in the inaugural 1969-70 season, making it the oldest and original multi-disciplinary arts center in the entire State University of New York system.
Among the special events planned to celebrate this milestone will be the “50th Anniversary Gala Pops Concert” on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in King Concert Hall. The concert will feature a number of Fredonia alumni who have gone on to professional performing careers. Tickets to the concert, as well as the gala dinner (see below) will be available Aug. 26 in the Fredonia Ticket Office in the Williams Center.
Other special anniversary events include a 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner on Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. in the Williams Center, a free concert with the U.S. Navy Band Commodores featuring 2010 Fredonia graduate Christine Hsai as lead vocalist at 4 p.m. on Oct. 27 in King Concert Hall and a free lecture titled “Mystery Solved: The Disappearance of Michael C. Rockefeller” with noted journalist and author Carl Hoffman at 5 p.m. on Nov. 21 in Marvel Theatre.
In addition to the special events, an effort to help secure future programming at Rockefeller Arts Center has been launched through the Fredonia College Foundation.
The Rockefeller Arts Center 50th Anniversary Endowment Fund has been established with a goal of raising $50,000 to support the continued programming of the kind of shows the community has come to expect.
The principal in the fund will remain intact and the interest generated annually will be used to support quality programming.
The Kay Hardesty Logan Foundation has generously committed up to $25,000 as a dollar-for-dollar match to help the arts center reach its goal.
Those who would like to make a contribution to this special fund can send their gift to: Rockefeller Arts Center 50th Anniversary Endowment Fund c/o Fredonia College Foundation, State University of New York at Fredonia, 280 Central Ave., Fredonia, NY 14063.
