Garde Arts Center

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Garde Arts Center

Center for Performing Arts

Motivated by a sense of history, a commitment to excellence in the arts and the need for a revitalized New London and Southeastern Connecticut, a group of community leaders created the Garde Arts Center in 1985 as a non-profit performing arts organization. Their first goal was to save and reuse the historic Garde theatre, one of the few remaining historic movie palaces in Connecticut. Built in 1926 during the golden era of the motion pictures and vaudeville theatres, the recently restored Moroccan interior of the Garde Theatre, along with the new seats and state-of-the-art stage equipment, provide a very audience-friendly theatre venue in a warm and beautiful atmosphere. Today the Garde is becoming nationally recognized for its unique architecture and multi-faceted programming.



In fact, the Garde Arts Center is not just the Garde Theatre, but has become an ''arts block'' comprising four adjacent historic buildings all being transformed into a multi-space center for arts, education, commerce, and community events. The four-story Garde Office Building is directly attached to the Garde Theatre. For decades it was one of the most desired professional and commercial buildings in New London. Today it houses expanded lobbies, function halls, the box office and the future offices of the Garde administration.