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Mission & History

Mission

The Center for the Arts promotes artistic creativity, education and presentation for a collaborative, inclusive and vibrant cultural community.

History

In 1991, local arts organizations, artists and concerned community members collectively recognized that increasing rents in insecure and inadequate facilities threatened Jackson Hole’s local arts organizations. A thriving, sustainable local arts community, where arts and education organizations grow and work collaboratively, could never be achieved when local arts organizations struggled to simply survive.

With a $1000 grant from the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, a plan for a shared facility was born. Over the course of five years, a needs assessment, existing facilities assessment, site selection study, feasibility study and an economic impact study all supported the need for an art center in Jackson.

Today the Center for the Arts, working with the Town of Jackson and Teton County, includes the 41,000 square foot Arts and Education Pavilion, as well as the recently completed Performing Arts Pavilion, which includes a 500-seat theater, a Music Center, theater rehearsal space, and additional administrative space. The Center for the Arts is home to twenty local arts and education organizations.

The Center for the Arts, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, serves all of Jackson Hole and the surrounding region. It is a home in which local arts and education organizations reside with the knowledge of a secure future and the confidence to grow. It is a place where opportunities to think and work collaboratively exceed expectations. Through classes, performances, educational opportunities and a beautiful, accessible campus, the Center for the Arts is a place where the community participates in a full range of creative activities now and for generations to come.

Center Theater Event History