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PNC Bank Arts Center is a modern amphitheatre situated in Holmdel, New Jersey, USA. Garden state arts center (PNC Bank Arts Center) is rated among the best five amphitheaters in its country. In fact, PNC Bank Arts Center shares the pride of honor of being a major outdoor arena with only one other theatre in the New York City Metropolitan Area.
PNC Bank Arts Center is a place where one can enjoy good theatre in an open and relaxed atmosphere. PNC Bank Arts Center is a platform for well-established names that believe in giving quality performances. All the latest state of the art machinery is there to make your visit a truly enjoyable one. The spectacular lightning effect, the wonderful sounding devices, the musical scores, the awesome performances and the perfect stage directions, all come together in a winning combination to woo the spectators.
The open air provides one with an added excitement because everything is viewed under the stars. Whether viewing from a reserved seat or from the lawn area, it heightens ones sense of perception and enjoyment by giving you an open space view.
PNC Bank Arts Center has a large seating capacity. It can easily contain 17,500 with its 7,000 seats and the vast grass area, which can hold about 17,500 people. The concerts start performing from May and continue through September making your summer evenings an event to look forward to. During this time the amphitheatre is a hub of activities that featuring 35-45 varieties of events of a number of types of musical styles.
Origin of Garden state arts center ( PNC Bank Arts Center)
PNC Bank Arts Center was initially known as Garden State Arts Center. PNC Bank Arts Center was formed at the call of the legislation, which had created the Garden State Parkway and wanted a recreational facility to be setup along the Parkway's route. Thus, in 1964 Holmdel's Telegraph Hill was finalized for the site for "a cultural and recreational center that would be developed as a center for music and the performing arts.
Modernist architect Edward Durell Stone was assigned the task to make the design for the amphitheatre. Its main features were open sides, which were covered by a 200-foot roof in the shape of a saucer. The roof supported by eight huge concrete pillars. Initially its seating capacity was 5,000 while it had space for 5,000 more people outside the roof on the lawn area.
Initially, the art center staged lots of classical and popular music. Also, it provided the school kids, elderly, the disadvantaged and the handicapped people with free daytime programs. There non-profit Organization which was associated with the Arts Center are usually sponsored the International Heritage Festivals before the stating and after the commencement of the regular season.
Their main focus was on ethnicities such as African American, German, Scottish, and Slovak; and these festivals remain till date a unique feature of venue's programming. From October to April the center is generally quite save for a Holiday Light Spectacular show in the Christmas season. There is a banquet hall in the premises, which can be rented for private functions. The New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial was added in 1995.
The 1990s saw a new change in the philosophy of the Arts Center. Classical music was almost totally replaced by popular music acts in a bid for competition with the other larger amphitheatres. Thus, the 1996 season saw an expansion in the amphitheatre with 2,000 new seats and a bigger lawn capacity (it was now double in size), to include a wider number of audiences.
Christening
In the year 1998, PNC Bank a banking company in Pittsburgh bought the naming rights for the amphitheatre. Thus, Garden State Arts Center was christened PNC Bank Arts Center.
Concerts
The PNC Bank Arts Centre holds about 40 concerts a year. It covers a wide range of music from hip-hop to country music, alternative to rock and roll music, and much more. Currently the most popular concerts showing at the amphitheatre are- Wicked, Jersey Boys, Dallas Cowboys, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Dace Matthews, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney, Celin Dion.
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