Capital Campaign

The Future is Now at the Count Basie Theatre

In just 10 years, the Count Basie Theatre will celebrate its 100th birthday. The Basie has been a treasure to generations of artists, families, and patrons in downtown Red Bank. Today, we’re preparing this community resource for the century to come.

With more than 200 live performances each year, the Basie’s main stage is at maximum capacity. And the Basie’s Performing Arts Academy educates more than 1,000 students a year, utilizing every bit of administrative space at the theater for classes.

More than ever, the Count Basie Theatre has demonstrated there is a need for a true, regional center for the performing arts and arts education. The Basie has become a powerful regional brand that raises the bar for live performances and arts education in central New Jersey.

The Basie’s The Future is Now capital campaign is an ambitious endeavor to transform the Count Basie Theatre into a full city block of talent, passion and discovery, continuously ablaze with ideas that inspire the next generation. Our vision includes long-overdue improvements to the theatre and the addition of the arts and education building.


Improving and expanding the Basie

For the first time in nearly 100 years, the Count Basie Theatre will feature a spacious outdoor arts plaza, barrier-free restrooms, ticketing and concession areas, plus an elevator that will offer a comfortable, welcoming experience for all patrons, including those with physical and sensory challenges. The Basie will complete crucial enhancements to the theatre’s backstage area, including new rigging and staging technologies, a modern artist lounge, and contemporary dressing rooms, and other world-class amenities that Basie performers and students deserve.

The new arts and education building will be an exciting touchstone of the Basie campus. This new facility will break down the siloes of our education programs and propel a renewed commitment to cross-collaboration, incubation and partnership. The space will inspire all students – from families taking dance classes to teachers attending professional development workshops – to embrace the arts and weave the Basie experience into their everyday lives and work. The arts and education building will house new classrooms, space for teaching artists, rehearsal studios, a hub for research and non-profit collaboration, and a second performance space for up-and-coming artists to develop into tomorrow’s main stage attractions.

The expansion of the Basie will diversify performances and improve the quality, consistency, and academic impact of arts education, especially among underserved students.

To learn more about the capital campaign or to set up a tour of the Count Basie Theatre, click here.

To download a copy of the Basie’s The Future Is Now capital campaign brochure, click here.