Willingboro’s new Performing Arts Center is opening with a kickoff concert this weekend
Burlington County's newest concert venue can seat 570 guests.
Willingboro is finally ready to raise the curtain on the township’s new arts and culture venue with its first performance on Saturday.
The celebration for the opening of the new 570-seat Willingboro Performing Arts Center, located in the Kennedy Center, will kick off with a performance by R&B group Atlantic Starr.
Crews transformed what was previously the high school auditorium into a revamped space designed for concerts, theatre productions, dance performances, lectures, and more.
The venue “is envisioned as a premier community gathering place where residents and visitors can enjoy concerts, theatrical productions, cultural programs, family entertainment, community events, and other performing arts experiences,” the township said in a press release announcing the opening.
Another highlight of the new space is that it gives Burlington County residents the chance to see world-class performances without needing to cross the bridge into Philadelphia, theater manager Bobby Duckett said.
“We want to invite everybody from the region to come by and see what we do,” Duckett said.
Following years of informal discussion about creating a hub for the performing arts in town, the effort to build the new concert hall started in earnest around 2023, Willingboro spokesperson Tanya Jackson said. The project cost around $2 million, with about half from township capital funds and half from state funding, she said.
“Willingboro is the home of many talented artists and performers, and we just wanted to create a space for residents and surrounding community members to come together to experience music and theatre, cultural programming, and those types of things,” Jackson said. “Willingboro is an ideal place for a performing arts center just based on all of the great talent that has come through this community.”
After opening night, the new venue has two more shows currently scheduled for this fall: a concert by R&B group The Manhattans on Oct. 24 and a performance by percussionist Tito Puente Jr. on Nov. 20.
Tickets and more information are available on the center’s website.
“Willingboro has a very rich legacy in the entertainment world,” Duckett said. “[The center is] about bringing those people back to be a part of it as we develop the next generation of talented people from this community.”
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