Venue: Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts
Town: Jacksonville, US

The Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts (JCPA) (originally the Civic Auditorium and previously known as the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts) is a performing arts center located in Jacksonville, Florida. Situated along the Riverbank, the venue is known as the First Coast’s "premiere riverfront entertainment facility". Originally opening in 1962, the facility was renovated beginning in 1995 until 1997; with a grand re-opening on February 8, 1997. The center consists of three venues: a theatre; concert hall and recital hall. It is home to the Jacksonville Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the FSCJ Artist Series. Commissioned in 1955, the City of Jacksonville approved a new civic auditorium and a municipal coliseum, to help brighten the scenery around the riverfront. In 1957, the site was purchased from the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. At the same time, Mayor W. Haydon Burns successfully lobbied the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad to move its headquarters from North Carolina to Jacksonville. Thus, construction began on the auditorium and the Atlantic Coastline Building (now CSX Building) both began in 1957. On December 7, 1957, the Seaboard Docks were demolished to make way for the forthcoming auditorium. The site was prepared via bulk heading the shoreline of the St. Johns River. This involved walling out the shoreline and adding fill dirt. The original site of the municipal coliseum (now where the Riverfront Plaza sits) was moved further along the riverbank and opened in 1960 along with the Atlantic Coastline Building. The Civic Auditorium was opened on September 16, 1962, with a performance by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. The center served as a replacement for the aging Duval County Armory and became the preferred mid-sized concert venue alongside the Florida Theatre. The civic auditorium consisted of the main auditorium, "Exhibition Hall" and the "Little Theater". By the 1990s, the auditorium developed a bad reputation among