Walters Cultural Arts Center Springs To Life With Events

Hillsboro residents will want to take note of the many activities going on around the City that bring art and culture into our lives.  After 2 years of binge-watching Netflix under the Covid threat, it is time people; time to come back into the real world and soothe your collective souls.  The tulips are up, the frogs are croaking, and the blooms are on the fruit trees.   Among the many places that you can go is the Walters Cultural Arts Center on Main Street in downtown Hillsboro. The former Trinity Lutheran Church (1947) was built with iconic red stones that were quarried along the Columbia River in Camas, Washington.  Over the decades the Church decided to expand onto their land at SE River Road and Minter Bridge Roads and the icon was bought by the City of Hillsboro.  That purchase and the $2.5 Million dollar remodel were made possible by a $1,000,000 dollar donation that came from beloved local nursery man Glenn Walters and his wife Viola.  The result has been a place of great beauty and function which lends itself to arts of all kinds.  Music, speakers, fine arts, dance, theater, and a variety of other performances are had within the walls.  If you have not visited you are really missing a great opportunity.

    A concert in 2017 in the main performance hall which seats 200 is ready to start. Photo Dirk Knudsen

Here is more information about this wonderful place:

The Glenn & Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center is a multi-use arts and performance venue in downtown Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Opened in 2004, it is housed in a red-colored stone building completed in 1949 as a Lutheran church. Hillsboro, a city on the west side of Portland, owns the three-level facility and operates it through their Parks and Recreation Department.

Walters Cultural Arts Center includes gallery space, classroom space, and a 200-seat performance hall. With two above-ground floors and one below-ground level, the center has a total of 15,664 square feet (1,455.2 m²) of space. Located on East Main Street, the Washington County Courthouse and the Hillsboro Civic Center are just to the west and the Edward Schulmerich House one block to the east on Main. The center is named in honor of a local couple who donated $1 million towards the project which included purchasing the property and US $2.4 million worth of renovations.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_%26_Viola_Walters_Cultural_Arts_Center

As this month ends the center is bringing artist Shelby Silver for a special talk on the 28th, and this week Rejoice Dance Theatre is hosting a performance.  Classes are opening up right not for painting, music, dance, and more!

Here are a few of the offerings coming up for citizens as provided by the Walters Cultural Arts Centers Website- Check them all out right here and get to a class if you can!    This is a jewel in Hillsboro’s growing options for art and experiencing our culturally diverse community and all it has to offer.