Finding Connecticut

Garde Arts Center

New London • New London County • Entertainment • Live Music

In the heart of downtown New London, the nonprofit Garde Arts Center is home for the performing arts and the owner of the nationally acclaimed historic 1400-seat Garde Theater with its distinctive Mediterranean decor. Located where a whaling merchant’s mansion once stood, the Garde was built as a movie and vaudeville theater in the 1920s when movie palaces were America’s entertainment living room. In 1929, Warner Bros purchased the theater for $1 million to install the new “talking picture” technology. One of the most popular theaters in the region, it was sold in 1976, as downtown movie palaces were being demolished – victims of television, multiplexes, and suburban sprawl. The theater was saved from demolition by the community when the newly incorporated Garde Arts Center purchased the theater in 1985.

Since then, the Garde has brought millions of people together for the best in movies, live music, theater, and dance. From Bob Dylan and the London Symphony Orchestra to the local talent shows to the latest movies on the Garde’s giant screen with state-of-the-art digital cinema — coming full circle (and then some) from its movie palace days.

For further information: gardearts.org

Garde Arts Center
325 State Street
New London, CT 06320
Box office: 860-444-7373 x 1

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