Wells Fargo Center for the Arts has been voted Best Entertainment Venue in the 2011 NorthBay biz readers poll.
Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, located in the heart of the Sonoma Wine Country, is ranked among California’s top performing arts presenters. The center’s fans have voted for it once again as the Best Entertainment Venue of the year. Kristi Buffo, public relations manager, says, “Our mission is to enrich, educate and entertain.”
The center is currently wrapping up its 29th season of performances in music, dance, theater, speakers, comedy and family programming. Together with its resident companies (Roustabout Theater, Santa Rosa Symphony and American Philharmonic Sonoma County) the center presents about 100 performances each year. Some of the highlights of its 2010-11 season have included Yes with Peter Frampton, John Legend, Tony Bennett, Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Buddy Valastro-The Cake Boss, and ScrapArtsMusic presented through the Family Fun Series.
The center provided education programs to 30,000 students from five counties (Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake). It also assists with music education by providing hundreds of instruments to students from low-income families. In May, it will announce its 30th Anniversary Season. The Center will be hosting a series of special events for the community including a free concert by the Coast Guard Band in July and a free festival in September called “Fiesta de Independencia,” celebrating Mexican culture and heritage. It will also have the honor of hosting the ARTrails Preview Exhibition September 24-October 28. This special exhibition is also free and offers a preview of the art you’ll find during ARTrails’ juried open studios.
Quality and the variety of artists who perform in the theater make the experience there unlike any other. Buffo says, “The center presents an impressive variety and quantity of world-class performances—and high-quality programs—for a community of this size; they’re the kind and number of opportunities usually found only in larger cities and major urban areas.” The center supports everything from mainstream interests to eclectic tastes.
Buffo says, “None of what we do would be possible without your support as patrons, members, sponsors, donors and volunteers. It was you—our community—who created the center in 1981, and it’s our community-based volunteer board of directors who continue to govern and operate the center today. It exists to enrich, educate and entertain our North Bay community, and it’s our community that sustains this mission by attending shows and providing generous donations. Much more than ticket sales, these gifts sustain the organization. Thank you for voting for Wells Fargo Center for the Arts and thank you for helping to keep the arts alive in our community for 30 years and counting!”
