Edmonds Center for the Arts celebrates 10 years of performances

Published 1:30 am Friday, July 29, 2016

EDMONDS — To the local performing arts groups whose seasons anchor the calendar at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, the venue is home.

Olympic Ballet Theatre, Cascade Symphony Orchestra, Sno-King Community Chorale and the DeMiero Jazz Festival drew audiences to the facility long before the former school auditorium became the arts center’s theater.

Edmonds Center for the Arts is celebrating its 10th anniversary season Saturday, July 30, with an all-ages “birthday bash” festival from 3 to 9 p.m. at 410 Fourth Ave. N. in downtown Edmonds. Free tickets will be offered in the lobby before each performance.

Ten years ago, the campus that originally housed Edmonds High School was transformed into a state-of-the-art performance facility. Since then, more than a half-million patrons have enjoyed live theater, music, dance, comedy, as well as film, lectures and literary events.

“The hall’s acoustics were preserved with the renovation,” said Cascade Symphony director Michael Miropolsky. “We are very fortunate to have the arts center. Few volunteer orchestras in the country can call such a hall their home. The orchestra has played here for nearly 55 years.”

Mara Vinson and her husband Olag Gorboulev, the artistic directors of Olympic Ballet Theatre and School, also call the ECA home. They appreciate the facility crew and the ECA’s inventory of stage lights, among other attributes.

“It’s a professional venue, and right down the street from our studio,” Vinson said. “We love our Edmonds audiences, and so do the company dancers and our students.”

ECA executive director Joseph McIalwain likes to hear these comments, and he appreciates the history of the building.

“When I was first appointed by the facilities district to this position, construction was already under way. People would come to me to tell their stories of the auditorium. Most people who grew up in the Edmonds School District have at least one,” McIalwain said. “The arts center staff knew in the beginning that we had to make our mark on what was already a treasured public facility and bring it back to life in a different way.

“We are honored to carry on the legacy.”

To date, the 700-seat hall has hosted nearly 300 performances by regional, national and internationally known musicians, actors and dancers. For example, the ECA’s 10th anniversary season kicks off Sept. 29 with a show by Bruce Hornsby &The Noisemakers.

Added to those ECA 25-performance seasons are the 120 annual events by local groups, including the Sno-Isle Libraries TEDx talks and Rick Steves’ travel lectures.

“Now we are focused on stronger outreach programs, such as the artists in the schools series, our Saturday matinees and our arts series for people with dementia,” McIalwain said.

The ECA also has benefited and economy of Edmonds and all of Snohomish County, he said.

Frank DeMiero, a longtime Edmonds educator and director of several vocal music groups, agreed.

“Joe McIalwain and his staff have done an excellent job and we all benefit,” DeMiero said. “All of us wanted to keep the legacy going. The arts center is a wonderful and inspiring place to perform.”

The birthday bash also includes the official dedication at 6:25 p.m. of Seattle artist Iole Alessandrini’s “Luminous Forest” installation on Fourth Avenue, which now has solar LED lights embedded in the roadway between Daley and Main streets.

Here’s the schedule:

3 p.m., outdoor stage — Seattle Women’s Steel Pan Project

3:30 p.m., main stage — “The Red Balloon,” the 1956 film

4:15 p.m., outdoor stage — Kue, Hawaiian music

4:45 p.m., main stage — Vaudeville Etiquette, country/classic rock quintet

5:10 p.m., outdoor stage — Paris Williams, vocal loop artist

6:45 p.m., outdoor stage — The Onlies, original and traditional fiddle music

7 p.m., main stage — Alma y Azucar, Latin band

8:15 p.m. main stage — Grace Love &The True Loves, Seattle’s soul sensation (free tickets distributed at 6:30 p.m.)

9 p.m., gymnasium — Rabbit Stew String Band, square dance after-party

If you go

Edmonds Center for the Arts 10th anniversary

3 to 9 p.m. July 30, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds

Free tickets available in the lobby

More information about the birthday bash event and the upcoming season is available at www.ec4arts.org or by calling 425-275-9595.