Paramount Center for the Arts

Performing Arts: the 804 seat Paramount theatre is the grand performance stage in central Minnesota accommodating 90,000 patrons annually. Paramount Center for the Arts (pca), provides scheduling, ticketing, technical crew, marketing, and front-of-house services for the theatre. In addition to local performance groups, the pca presents a season of professional entertainment on the Paramount stage bringing high quality touring artists to central Minnesota. Pca employs professionally trained staff to manage and program the theatre and visual Arts studios. Customer service representatives manage and operate the internet-based ticketing system, the concessions service, 3 exhibition spaces and gift gallery operations. Pca manages the administrative offices, including sub-leasing to other nonprofit organizations, and the technical support facility located offsite. Pca also provides oversight, maintenance, and operation of the mechanical systems for the historic facility located in downtown st. Cloud.

Community engagement: the Paramount is committed to connecting local artists with the larger community to enhance and expand Arts opportunities and access in central Minnesota. These activities include workshops for classroom and Arts teachers, residency programs on and off-site for school and community organizations, senior communities, specialized courses for individuals with cognitive and physical challenges, technical outreach services assisting school and community theatres to maintain and manage their lighting and sound equipment, and consulting services that help area schools and organizations access expanded Arts experiences for their clients. Committed to changing lives through art, the Paramount is a resource for strengthening the civic fabric of central Minnesota by cultivating connections within and between the populace to foster individual, institutional, and community change. By actively seeking partnerships with central Minnesota organizations, the Paramount brings art to all with a focus on underserved populations, creating innovative, accessible programming.

Visual Arts: the visual Arts studios were created and opened as part of the 1998 Paramount theatre renovation. This well-equipped facility offers classes throughout the year for all ages, in a variety of mediums, and summer art camps for youth. Pca has a particular strength in ceramics and provides studio facilities and equipment to the community and wood-working and wood-turning programs. the facility includes a retail sales gallery that represents 60 local and regional artists, a professional gallery and two casual gallery spaces for artists to show. Pca provides employment opportunities for working artists, in a teaching capacity, and sales opportunities for artwork on exhibition. Pca offers professional development seminars and workshops for working artists and art educators; residencies and other services to k-12 schools; plus, educational outreach to community organizations and school districts and a full catalog of Arts instructional classes to the public. Visual Arts accommodates 22,500 children and adults annually.