The Ohnward Fine Arts Center

The Ohnward Fine Arts Center is a non-profit organization. This 29,800 square foot non-profit facility was made possible through private donations, grants and countless volunteer hours. The facility is not just a building but a symbol of the spirit and generosity of people who care. It opened in Dec. 2004. This facility is used by many of the schools in Jackson County. The agreement has always been to keep the rent low to all school events. The Ohnward Fine Arts Center is also a performing arts center, featuring such great artist as John Conlee, Bill Anderson, Glenn Miller Orchestra, The Four Preps and many, many others. This facility is also home to local community theater. The Ohnward Fine Arts Center is a non-profit organization. We receive no funding from the city of from tax dollars. We rely on the generous donations of our business partners and patrons to meet many of our expenses.

A major focus for OFAC has been the development of young theater patrons. By providing high quality theatrical experiences early in a child's life, we have fostered a life-long theater entrepreneur. It is the synergy of the public/private partnership that ensures access to quality arts for everyone. The arts are as essential to human well being as the air we breathe and the food we eat. And beyond that, the arts fuel economic growth as they attract creative, talented people to our communities; they enrich young minds, stimulating creative and abstract thinking and teaching teamwork and collaboration; and they build the social fabric of a community, bringing people together and keeping children safe and stimulated outside the school classroom. With this funding, children will continue to become acquainted with theater and will hopefully continue to attend as adults. In 2019 several activities will take place for children. On Friday April 26, Fly Dance Company, from Houston, Texas, presents the new "Healthy Hip-Hop Show." Behold the chemistry, lyricism, and musicality, of this theatrical dance show performed by the talented, experiences and comical dancers known as FLY. This program is FREE to all Jackson County children and is sponsored by the Dubuque Arts Council. July 13 and 14 we performed a local community theater production of Winnie the Pooh that had over 200 kids in attendance. We were unable to hold our 2020 kids camp because of Covid-19. We will perform Frozen Jr in 2021. Auditions for our 5th annual kids camp will be Monday July 12. Show dates fro Frozen Jr will be August 14 and 15.

Testimonials

Comments from our patrons who have seen a performance at the Ohnward Fine Arts Center. - Such a GREAT place to go and spend an evening! - Great facility and nice clean bathrooms. Great venue, not a bad seat in the house! - Great venue! Saw Yesterday and Today and it was excellent. Very nice people working there and great popcorn too! We'll be back. - For a town the size of Maquoketa we could not ask for a better facility. All the shows we have been to are top notch. Really enjoy them. Keep up the good work. - The Maquoketa area is blessed to have such a large venue, never a bad seat in the house! - Who knew the theater was a full size venue? Super clean, great lighting and sound. - Beautiful theatre with a family atmosphere. I was impressed with the variety of neat items for sale. - Have performed here as a youth for school music and theatrical productions. I also continue to visit as a guest as they always have a spectacular lineup of professional productions all throughout the year! - The Ohnward Fine Arts Center is a wonderful place to see a production. The Maquoketa community and all communities within driving distance are fortunate to have the Ohnward Fine Arts Center.