Building the Wild Rivers Performing Arts and Civic Center is a once in a generation community effort, and naturally, people have questions.
Below are answers to some of the questions we hear most often. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, we’d love to hear from you. Every conversation helps strengthen this shared vision.
The Wild Rivers Coast has never lacked places where community happens. School stages, community halls, outdoor venues, churches, and gathering spaces have served generations of performances, celebrations, and civic events—and they will continue to do so.
What our region has never had is a professional quality indoor venue large enough to support today’s students, attract touring performances, host regional conferences, and provide a year round gathering place for the entire community.
The Wild Rivers Performing Arts and Civic Center doesn’t replace what’s already here. It completes what’s been missing by creating a shared regional venue designed for education, arts, civic engagement, and community resilience.
The vision for a performing arts center on the Wild Rivers Coast isn’t new. For nearly 100 years, community leaders, educators, artists, and residents have recognized the need for a dedicated space where students and the community can learn, perform, and gather.
Today, that vision is finally within reach.
For many decades, students and local organizations have made the most of limited facilities, often adapting spaces that were never designed for performances, arts education, or large community events. While those venues have served the community well, they cannot fully support the growing needs of students, performers, educators, and audiences.
Partnership for the Performing Arts has spent years building educational programs, strengthening partnerships, supporting students, and engaging the community. With broad regional support, experienced leadership, and a clear plan, the organization is uniquely positioned to turn a century-long dream into a lasting community asset.
The question is no longer whether our community needs a performing arts center—it’s whether this generation will be the one to build it.
The current design includes approximately 32,500 square feet with an 800-seat performance hall, flexible lobby gathering space, support areas, and amenities designed to accommodate performances, conferences, educational programming, civic events, and community gatherings.
The Center is designed to serve the entire Wild Rivers Coast.
That includes students, families, artists, educators, businesses, nonprofit organizations, visitors, and residents throughout Del Norte County, Curry County, and neighboring Tribal communities.
Communities served include:
Together, the Center will serve more than 50,000 residents while welcoming visitors from throughout Northern California and Southern Oregon.
Students are the heart of this project, making the Del Norte High School campus the ideal location.
The site offers direct access for students while maximizing existing infrastructure, parking, and educational partnerships with the College of the Redwoods. It also creates opportunities to integrate the Center into school programming while remaining fully accessible for community events, performances, conferences, and civic gatherings.
By sharing resources and infrastructure, the Center delivers greater long term value for both students and the community.
The conceptual site plan has been designed to preserve both recreation and convenient access to the campus. Click here to view the site plan.
The tennis courts will be relocated within the campus to the southeast corner of the property, allowing students and the community to continue enjoying this recreational amenity while creating space for the new Performing Arts and Civic Center.
Parking is also being maintained and expanded. The plan retains the existing parking lot while adding additional parking areas to serve performances, school events, athletic activities, and community gatherings. New parking north of the theater and additional parking on the east side of campus will improve access and help accommodate larger events. Click here for more detailed parking information.
The existing gravel parking lot will not be retained as that is where the Center will be built and a new parking lot will go in where the tennis courts are now.
The result is a campus that better serves students, audiences, athletes, and the community, while preserving existing amenities and improving the overall visitor experience.
Yes.
Independent experts conducted a comprehensive feasibility analysis that examined community demand, comparable venues, project costs, operational considerations, design readiness, and long term sustainability.
Their recommendation was to proceed with clearly defined implementation milestones, confirming the Center has the potential to become a transformational regional asset.
The Wild Rivers Performing Arts and Civic Center is supported by partnerships that extend well beyond Crescent City.
Schools, Tribal governments, local governments, higher education institutions, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and community leaders throughout Del Norte and Curry Counties have helped shape the vision.
The Center belongs to the entire Wild Rivers Coast.
The Center is being developed through a partnership between Del Norte Unified School District and Partnership for the Performing Arts.
Del Norte Unified School District will own the facility and oversee its design and construction.
Partnership for the Performing Arts is leading fundraising efforts and will ultimately oversee operations, programming, scheduling, and community engagement through long term governance agreements.
Our future is only as good as the opportunities we provide for our youth.
The Center will provide professional quality spaces for music, theater, dance, educational workshops, guest artists, graduation ceremonies, and leadership opportunities.
But the investment began long before the building.
For years, Partnership for the Performing Arts has supported local students through instrument donations, music education, youth leadership programs, and educational partnerships. The Center expands opportunities that are already changing lives.
Every student deserves the chance to learn, perform, and grow in a space designed for their potential.
The Wild Rivers Coast faces unique challenges, including tsunamis, earthquakes, severe storms, and wildfires.
Located outside the tsunami zone, the Center has been intentionally designed to serve as both a performing arts venue and an important piece of community infrastructure.
During emergencies, the facility can support:
The Center reflects our commitment to building a safer, more resilient future for the region.
The Center is designed to complement—not compete with—the wonderful venues that already serve our community.
School auditoriums, community halls, churches, outdoor venues, casinos and local gathering spaces will continue to play an important role in community life.
The Center simply provides something the region has never had: a professional quality 800-seat indoor venue capable of hosting larger performances, conferences, educational programs, and civic events.
Together, these venues create a stronger cultural network for the entire region.
The Center is expected to become an important economic driver for the region.
Independent research estimates musical performances alone could generate nearly $1.9 million annually while supporting more than 55 local jobs. More than 20,000 attendees annally are projected to visit the Center, creating additional opportunities for restaurants, hotels, retailers, and local businesses.
The venue will also strengthen shoulder season tourism, support conferences and special events, and complement the region’s growing film and creative industries.
The result is a stronger local economy that benefits businesses, residents, and visitors alike.
Protecting and celebrating the unique character of the Wild Rivers Coast has guided the project from the very beginning.
The architecture and surrounding spaces are being designed to reflect the forests, coastline, natural beauty, history, fishing and agricultural traditions, and Indigenous cultures that define this region.
Rather than changing the community’s identity, the Center is intended to celebrate it by creating a place where local stories, artists, traditions, and future generations can come together.
The goal is not to become somewhere else.
The goal is to create a place that could only exist here.
The project has made significant progress over the past several years.
Today:
This isn’t simply a vision for the future—it’s a project actively moving toward construction.
The campaign combines public investment, private philanthropy, grants, foundations, corporate sponsorships, and community giving.
This diversified approach reflects the broad regional support behind the project while ensuring responsible financial stewardship.
We understand that making a major charitable commitment is an important decision. That’s why the Wild Rivers Performing Arts and Civic Center campaign includes multiple safeguards to ensure gifts are managed responsibly and used as intended.
There are many ways to become part of the Campaign for the Wild Rivers Performing Arts and Civic Center.
You can make a one time gift, become a recurring supporter, explore naming opportunities, sponsor a specific space, or help share the vision with others. Click here for more.
Every contribution—large or small—helps create opportunities for future generations.
Together, we’re building more than a facility.
We’re building a place where students, families, artists, and communities will gather for decades to come.
Yes.
Naming opportunities allow individuals, families, businesses, and organizations to become a permanent part of the Center while helping create opportunities for future generations.
Available opportunities include individual seats, gathering spaces, the Grand Lobby, performance spaces, patron amenities, and other signature locations throughout the facility.
Whether you’re honoring a loved one or celebrating your own commitment to the community, your legacy becomes part of the Center’s story.
© 2026 Partnership for the Performing Arts. PPA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, federal ID 66-0983467. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Del Norte County, California, is located on the unceded homelands of the Tolowa and Yurok peoples.
