Mattie Kelly Arts Center Marks 20 Years

Still Making Magic

courtesy Mattie Kelly Fine & Performing Arts Center

Musical prodigy Artiso Sham, performing on the MKA stage, began playing the piano at the age of three. 

Over the course of 20 years, more than two million art lovers have gathered together in Niceville to experience the joy of some of the greatest talents in the world performing live. From the hilarious Jerry Seinfeld to heavenly Broadway smash hits such as “Jesus Christ Superstar,” hundreds of memorable live music, theater and dance performances have hit the stage at the Mattie Kelly Fine and Performing Arts Center (MKAC). 

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of bringing Broadway’s best to the Emerald Coast, the college’s nonprofit Mattie Kelly Arts Center will feature a mega season of 12 nationally touring events in 2016-2017 — with everything from a Las Vegas star crooning the best of Frank Sinatra to a London-based tribute honoring the rock legend Queen, as well as hit Broadway shows and guest artists from around the globe.

“For me, there is nothing like live theater,” said MKAC director Jeannette Shires. “Watching a large ensemble sing and dance their hearts out right in front of you has an element of magic that just can’t be duplicated.”

While the $30 million Mattie Kelly Arts Center is well known for its public performances, the 200,000-square-foot space is also an instructional complex, featuring state-of-the-art facilities for the Northwest Florida State College’s dance, music, art and theater programs. The instructional Art and Music Wings were constructed first, opening for classes in January 1996. They hold two art galleries, a recording studio, an orchestra rehearsal hall, jazz band rehearsal hall, » computerized music theory and composition classroom and instructional studios. 

The grand opening of the Theater Wing followed in January 1997 with two theater spaces: the 185-seat Sprint Theater and the 1,650-seat Mainstage Theater, as well as a dance studio and the circular entrance courtyard with its signature Seven Dancers bronze sculpture, which was imported from Italy. Since then, the college added a 3,000-capacity outdoor amphitheater, the circular Marie Snow Greene Visual Arts Building, specially commissioned outdoor sculptures, and amassed a multi-million dollar permanent art collection. 

In 2006, the entire arts complex was renamed the Mattie Kelly Fine and Performing Arts Center in honor of the Destin patriarch whose patronage of the college’s arts programs began more than 30 years ago after she took art classes at the college. Today, the center estimates its events reach an average of 80,000 adults and youth each season. 

courtesy Mattie Kelly Fine & Performing Arts Center Cirque Holidaze takes the stage on Nov. 22. It’s sure to delight with the Ornaments on Tree performance.

This year, the college also celebrates another anniversary milestone — the 30th Anniversary Season of the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra (NFSO), which performs in residence at the center. 

“I think the NFSO’s longstanding music education programs for young students have been vital in developing a love of the arts in our community,” Shire says. “When students arrive for the annual fourth and fifth grade concerts, I love seeing their faces as they experience — many for the first time — the power of classical music.”

After 15 years on staff at MKAC, Shires’ passion for the performing arts still burns bright. “It is a thrill to see an empty stage be transformed into another time and place,” she says. “I get to work with such amazingly talented individuals on a daily basis and am surrounded by exceptional artists and, together, we are able to produce something so much greater than all of us.”

Tickets for 20th anniversary season of Broadway’s Best Touring Shows are now on sale. Purchase by calling the box office at (850) 729-6000 or online at
mattiekellyartscenter.org. A portion of all ticket sale proceeds supports student scholarships at the college.