ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Cobb Energy Performing Arts
Center keeps its name in lights
FACTBOOK 2021 147
Staff reports
The Cobb Energy Performing
Arts Centre may have been the first
major performing arts venue built in
metro Atlanta in four decades when
it opened in 2007, but that doesn’t
mean the facility is playing catchup
with the region’s other major venues.
The theater is one of metro Atlanta’s
premiere venues for Broadway
shows, ballet, concerts, operas, educational
shows, family performances,
corporate meetings, wedding receptions
and galas. The venue also hosts
two resident companies, the Atlanta
Ballet and the Atlanta Opera.
In June 2019, Vickie Hubbard was
announced as its next managing
director. Hubbard followed Sandie
Aaron, who retired after a three-year
tenure.
“Our executive search committee
did an exceptional job vetting applicants
and finalizing their recommendation
of Vickie,” said Michele
Swann, General Manager and CEO
of the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum &
Exhibit Hall Authority. “Her vast
experience in the public assembly
management industry, as well as
her vision for CEPAC, makes her
the ideal choice to further drive the
theater’s success.”
Hubbard brings over 30 years of
progressive, hands-on experience in
the overall management, promotion
and operation of arts, entertainment
and sports venues. Most recently, she
was Executive Director of the H. Ric
Luhrs Performing Arts Center on the
campus of Shippensburg University
in Shippensburg, Pa.
Due to the coronavirus, Hubbard
and Swann have had an especially
difficult job in maintaining a theater
with empty seats.
Swann said government-imposed
social distancing requirements
meant to slow the spread of the new
coronavirus could spell trouble for
the Performing Arts Centre this year.
“Our industry is not designed
for social distancing,” she told the
authority’s board over the summer,
saying requirements that patrons sit
6 feet apart from one another could
reduce attendance by two-thirds —
“to the point where the economics
just wouldn’t work.”
As of print time, a reopening date
for the performing arts centre was
not yet set.
The venue includes the 2,750-
seat John A. Williams Theatre, the
10,000-square-foot Kessel D. Stelling
Jr. Ballroom, a terrace, 1,000 parking
spaces including a 700-space parking
deck, and full-service food and
beverage capabilities.
The 2020 lineup was moved to
2021 for the most part, due to the
virus. The 2021 lineup includes acts
such as Jay Leno, George Lopez, the
ATL Blues Festival, Bert Kreisher,
Justin Moore, Tracy Lawrence and
Black Violin. The Atlanta Ballet
plans to continue with programming
in 2021 but was forced to
cancel its 2020 dates, including
what was supposed to be the first
production of “The Nutcracker”
at CEPAC after decades at the Fox
Theatre in Atlanta.
FACTBOX
Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
Address: 2800 Cobb Galleria Pkwy, Atlanta,
GA 30339
Phone number: 770-916-2800
Website: cobbenergycentre.com
Capacity: 2,750
Parking: 1000 spaces
Opened: September 2007
Resident Companies: The Atlanta Ballet,
The Atlanta Opera
/cobbenergycentre.com