Vilar Center for the Arts, Beaver Creek

A state-of-the-art facility, the Vail's Vilar Center for the Arts boasts a 530-seat theater, two 2,200 square-foot lobbies and the 2,000 square-foot May Gallery Patrons Lounge that displays 17th and 18th century architectural watercolors.

The intimate performance space was designed to exacting specifications in order to create ideal acoustics and unobstructed views for each and every seat. Littman's Künstler theater in Munich provided inspiration for the wood-paneled columns, walls and ceilings that are combined with the curved horseshoe-seating layout also found in many traditional European halls.

The founders of Beaver Creek had imagined a central performing arts theater since the town was first projected as a resort community. In February of 1998, that vision was realized. With the opening of the Vilar Center for the Arts, Beaver Creek became one of the first mountain resort communities in the world to include its own performing arts facility presenting a year-round series of diverse cultural events.

A non-profit theater managed by the Vail Valley Foundation, the construction of the Vilar Center was financed by donors who are both full and part-time residents of the Vail Valley. The majority of today's operating expenses still come from private and corporate donations.

The Vilar Center for the Arts, while perched atop the mountain in the heart of Beaver Creek, is the epicenter of the Vail Valley's performing-arts cultural life. The facility features about 60 performances annually, most of which are booked by a nationally recognized agency,