The Hylton Performing Arts Center has announced a significant new gift from the Cecil and Irene Hylton Foundation to support performances by community organizations that make up the Hylton Center Arts Alliance. The foundation’s support, combined with the success of the recent Celebration of the Arts Alliance event, will enable the Hylton Center to waive room and space rental fees for members of the Alliance for 18 months, beginning September 2021.
Held Thursday evening, May 6, the Celebration of the Arts Alliance was a digital presentation featuring live performances by members of the Arts Alliance, testimonials about the Alliance’s impact, and a live “Raise Your Paddle” fundraiser. All proceeds from the event, which raised more than $46,000, supported the Senator Charles J. Colgan Community Arts Fund. In place since the Hylton Center opened in 2010, the Colgan Fund ensures that Arts Alliance organizations are able to perform at the Hylton Center at greatly reduced rates, making the creative capital of this region accessible for all.
The Arts Alliance includes some of Northern Virginia’s most vibrant arts organizations, from volunteer to professional, and the Colgan Fund supports their work by enabling an affordable cost structure to ensure these groups can continue to bring their talents to the Hylton Center stages. A great champion for the community, the late Senator Charles J. Colgan worked tirelessly in the state legislature to promote the region’s artists, arts educators, and specifically, the Hylton Center. The fee waivers will help alleviate some of the financial hardship that Alliance members have experienced due to canceled performances during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“For our father, helping to develop George Mason’s Prince William Campus was a labor of love, and with that came his love for the development of the Hylton Center,” said Ray Colgan. “A fighter for public education, our father knew that the arts were an integral part in the development of a young person’s education and a building block on one’s journey for a complete life. He knew that no community could be whole without a place for those artists to show their craft, and the Hylton Center does that.”
The Hylton Center Arts Alliance includes seven Arts Partners—the Asaph Dance Ensemble, Manassas Ballet Theatre, Manassas Chorale, Manassas Symphony Orchestra, Prince William Little Theatre, The Creative and Performing Arts Center (CAPAC), and Youth Orchestras of Prince William; as well as five Arts Affiliates—ARTfactory Pied Piper Theatre, Northern Virginia Ballet, Old Bridge Chamber Orchestra, Real Life Productions, LLC, and Virginia National Ballet.
Learn more about the Hylton Center Arts Alliance and ways to support this talented group of arts organizations.
May 10, 2021