The Center for the Arts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a home for the arts in Harford County, Maryland. Incorporated in March 2005 as the Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, Inc., the Center for the Arts was granted 501 (c)(3) nonprofit status in November 2005. The goal of the organization is to Build the Building – a facility that includes classrooms, arts studios, dance studios, rehearsal spaces, performance spaces, and gallery exhibit spaces, as well as state-of-the-art technical and support spaces – for music, dance, theater, literary and visual arts pursuits.

Since the founding of the Center for the Arts, efforts have focused on building consensus among the local arts organizations, working with the community to define existing and future cultural needs, and working in concert with the Harford County Cultural Arts Board to facilitate the preparation of a Cultural Plan for Harford County and a Feasibility Study for the Construction and Operation of a Center for the Arts in Harford County.

In fall 2006, the Center for the Arts presented the Five-Star Arts Series which included a Mozart-Gershwin piano concert by Dr. Duke Thompson; the Nutcracker with the Donetsk Ballet from the Ukraine; and the youth theater production of Remembering Uncle Scrooge. The Series was created to build awareness of the Center’s mission and provide Harford County residents excellence in cultural programming – a hallmark of the future center.

Fall 2007 brought the kick-off of our membership campaign to build support and engage the community in programs, activities and decision making.

In December 2007, we again presented Remembering Uncle Scrooge an original musical adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, written and directed by Marge Phillips and co-produced by the Center for the Arts and the Maryland Conservatory of Music.  Returning after sold out performances in 2006, this holiday dinner theatre offered a delightful theatre experience combined with a holiday meal and included a wildly successful Children’s Matinee Performance.