Krannert Center
Krannert Center's Bio
Welcome! Krannert Center for the Performing Arts is yours to explore. The Center, built in the late 1960s, is an unparalleled crossroads for creative excellence, invigorating performances, and distinguished academics. The vast complex, which is a unit within the College of Fine and Applied Arts, covers two city blocks and is comprised of five stories that encase four formal performance spaces, an outdoor amphitheatre, Intermezzo café, the Promenade gift shop, and numerous rehearsal halls, workshops, classrooms, and administrative offices.
Throughout each year you can experience world-class artists like Kodo, the London Symphony Orchestra, Hubbard Street Dance, and YoYo Ma; global masters like Zakir Hussain and the Afro-Cuban Allstars; new work from such visionaries as the Builders Association and Mark Morris; local flavor and big names from the Pygmalion Music Festival; our biennial Wall to Wall Guitar Festival (next up in fall 2009); and exceptional productions from the University of Illinois Departments of Theatre and Dance and the School of Music. Illinois students always enjoy generous discounts to all performances and some of the best seats in the house for each show are held for students to purchase—and even better, the Center offers hundreds of FREE performances, events, and activities every season to help you explore the arts at Illinois.
You can voice your opinion at a preshow discussion, mingle with fellow revelers at a free late night concert, volunteer your time or produce your own show through the Krannert Center Student Association, tap into the free WiFi, or grab a few minutes to chat with a friend and nosh on one of the daily organic specials at the cafe—the casual encounters and active participation of all students are deeply important to the Centers role as a cultural junction—so come, stay awhile, strike up a conversation, or just get down to work at a study session in the lobby—at Krannert Center, we invite you to discover the possibilities!
