Performing Arts Center

Performing Arts Center

Performing arts center/centre (see spelling differences), often abbreviated as PAC, is used to refer to:

• A multi-use performance space that is intended for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre.

The intended multiple use of performing arts centers in this sense differentiates them from single-purpose concert halls, opera houses or theatres, although the actual use of single-purpose spaces for other than their intended use is of course widespread.

• A cluster of performance spaces, usually but not always under one roof, each possibly designed for a specific purpose such as symphonic music or chamber music or theatre, but multi-purpose as a whole.

An example of this type of PAC is the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. which contains four distinctive performance spaces.

Some performing arts center organizations act as sole presenter for events using the venues within the center, but most also frequently rent their performance spaces to other performing arts presenters or self-presenting performing arts groups. Examples of this practice are the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. renting venues in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts or the Celebrity Series of Boston renting venues in Boston's Citi Performing Arts Center.