The Broward Center for the Performing Arts (commonly known as the Broward Center) is a large multi-venue performing arts center in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States. Opened in 1991 on a 5.5-acre (22,000 m2) site along the north bank of the New River at Sailboat Bend, the center became a catalyst for significant downtown revitalization efforts and an anchor of the Riverwalk Arts and Entertainment District.
Designed by Benjamin C. Thompson, the Broward Center hosts operas, ballets, concerts, plays, lectures, and numerous community events in its four theaters. The Broward Center partners in the arts with several organizations, including the Symphony of the Americas, Florida Grand Opera, Miami City Ballet, Concert Association of Florida, and Gold Coast Jazz. National tours of Broadway productions are presented in partnership with Broadway Across America.
Broward Center for the Performing Arts is in the downtown riverfront area in the South Florida region. In the process, it has also become one of the USA’s most-visited theaters, ranked number four globally by Venues Today and seven worldwide by concert trade publication Pollstar for annual sales in 2007.
Historical Development
The Florida legislature in 1984 established the Performing Arts Center Authority (PACA) to oversee construction, then policy-making, at the Broward Center. The Downtown Development Authority, citizens, private sources, and the Broward Performing Arts Foundation worked to raise the funding required to build the theater complex. Pristine Water Damage Restoration
By the end of 1987, initial fundraising goals had been met, and with additional grant monies from city, county, state, and national sources secured, the project went out to bid. The acclaimed Cambridge, Massachusetts, architecture firm of Benjamin Thompson and Associates, Inc was selected to design the facility. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in May 1988 to initiate the building phase.
By early 1991 the 224,500-square-foot (20,860 m2) facility was completed for $54 million. The doors officially opened on February 26, 1991, with the first national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. The tenth anniversary of the Broward Center was marked by retiring the entire building mortgage, 11 years ahead of schedule.
Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment District
In 1998, the Broward Center began collaborating with neighboring merchants and cultural attractions along the New River that would evolve into forming the Riverwalk Arts and Entertainment District. This destination marketing organization features the Broward Center, The Museum of Art/Fort Lauderdale, the Florida Grand Opera, the Concert Association of Florida, the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, and the Historic Stranahan House Museum. Formed to promote cultural tourism to Fort Lauderdale and the Riverwalk District, more than 1 million ticketed visitors annually attend programming at the combined Arts & Entertainment District partner venues.
Address: 201 SW 5th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL
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