The New Year’s celebration at the refurbished West Chester armory will not only usher in 2017, but will also mark the opening of a new performing arts center in Chester County, writes Michaelle Bond for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The New Year’s Eve gala will be the inaugural event of the Knauer Performing Arts Center on North High Street in West Chester. The more-than-a-century-old National Guard armory has been transformed by a group of borough residents, and will serve as home to around 25 of the county’s performing arts organizations.
West Chester has been flourishing over the last several decades, but has been lacking a dedicated performing arts spot after the previous theater was torn down 30 years ago. Recently, the Uptown! Entertainment Alliance was formed to help convert the old armory into the new center.
“People, whether they knew it or not, were waiting for a place,” said Angela Scully, the nonprofit’s executive director.
The center’s calendar is already brimming with upcoming activities, including a youth acting workshop, a jazz cocktail hour, and an interactive improvisation comedy show for January.
Read more about the new arts center in the Philadelphia Inquirer here.
