Mission & History
The Palace Theatre Mission & History
The Mission of Stamford Center for the Arts’ Palace Theatre: is to Entertain, Educate and Enrich the diverse population of Stamford, and Fairfield County. Our vision is to be the regional arts center for exhilarating performances that enhances the cultural, educational, economic, and social life of our community.
The Palace Theatre is the longest-running arts presenter in Fairfield County. Part of Stamford Center for the Arts (SCA), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, The Palace is dedicated to serving as the region’s premier performing arts center, providing exciting entertainment that enhances and enriches the cultural, educational, economic, and social life of our community.
Our organization owns two facilities: the aforementioned renovated and restored historic Palace Theatre (61 Atlantic Street) and the state-of-the-art Rich Forum (307 Atlantic Street), located within four blocks of each other in downtown Stamford, Connecticut. The Rich Forum is currently leased to NBCUniversal as a television production studio.
The 1,600 seat Palace Theatre was designed by Thomas Lamb, the famous architect of New York’s earlier Madison Square Garden (1925), The Mark Hellinger Theatre (where “My Fair Lady” debuted) and the still-standing Paramount Hotel. The Palace was acclaimed as “Connecticut’s Most Magnificent” when it opened as a vaudeville/silent-movie theatre in the summer of 1927. With the demise of vaudeville, the theatre remained a movie house until it went dark in 1980, two years after the passing of its builder/owner, Mary Vuono. It was restored and re-opened in 1983 for live theatre, opera, dance, and concerts, plus art exhibitions. Recent performers at The Palace Theatre include Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Martin, Gabriel Iglesias, Diana Ross, Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire and Jeff Dunham.
In addition to a full season of cultural and entertainment events, The Palace Theatre is also home to the Ballet School of Stamford, Connecticut Ballet, Lumina String Quartetʼs Chamber Music Institute, Namaskaar Foundation, Orchestra Lumos, and Stamford Young Artists Philharmonic.