History
The amphitheatre was originally called the Garden State Arts Center. The 1954 legislation that created the Garden State Parkway (at whose Exit 116 the Arts Center is located) also called for recreational facilities along the Parkway's route, and in 1964 Holmdel's Telegraph Hill was chosen as the site for "a cultural and recreational center ... that would be developed as a center for music and the performing arts." The amphitheatre was designed by noted modernist architect Edward Durell Stone and featured open sides covered by a 200-foot (61 m), saucer-like roof supported by eight large concrete pillars. It featured seating for 5,000 people with space for about 5,000 more on the lawn area outside the roof. The facility is most easily accessible from the Parkway.
The Garden State Arts Center first opened on June 12, 1968, with a program featuring pianist Van Cliburn, conductor Eugene Ormandy, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Arts Center was operated in conjunction with the New Jersey Highway Authority, which also ran the Parkway. On June 25 and 26, 1968, Judy Garland performed at this facility.
In the beginning, the Arts Center's programming featured a good deal of classical as well as popular music. In addition, a number of free daytime programs were provided for schoolchildren, senior citizens, and the disadvantaged and disabled. Beginning in 1971, the non-profit Foundation associated with the Arts Center also sponsored International Heritage Festivals before and after the regular season. Focusing on ethnicities such as Scottish, Slovak, German, Polish, African American, etc., these festivals remain to this day an unusual part of the venue's programming. Signs advertising these upcoming festivals, along with the regular upcoming concerts, became a familiar site to drivers approaching toll booths along the Parkway.
During off-season months the Arts Center is generally unused, except for a Holiday Light Spectacular show during the Christmas season. A banquet hall is on premises that can be rented for private occasions. In 1995, the Arts Center grounds saw the addition of the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.
During the 1990s the philosophy of the Arts Center underwent a change. Classical music was almost completely phased out, and a need was felt to expand the venue to compete for the top popular music acts against other, larger amphitheatres on the summer outdoor concert circuit. Thus before the 1996 season, a substantial expansion of the facility was done, with 2,000 seats added (some now outside the roof, which was not altered) and the lawn capacity doubled in size, by way of taking out rows of trees and a surrounding walk and raising the bank around the facility much higher.
In 1996, PNC Bank, a Pittsburgh based banking company, purchased naming rights and the venue was renamed to the PNC Bank Arts Center. (The company also has naming rights to Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball venue PNC Park.)
A variety of corporations provide services to the PNC Bank Arts Center including: Live Nation, New Jersey State Police, MONOC EMS, USI Event Security, Control, Aramark, and more.
Read more about this topic: PNC Bank Arts Center
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