100 years ago, this was a military base.

50 years ago, it became Centrum, an international hub for arts of all kind.

Let's explore.

As rich and colorful as the history of Centrum is, there is a lot going on now and in the future.

Genevieve, can you tell me a little bit what's happening here?

Well, it's more, a better question might be is what isn't happening at Centrum?

We've got the most incredible heritage musical workshops every single summer.

We have yearlong residency programs in the .. a writers conference, and a youth program that changed kids lives every single year.

Centrum is an arts education organization.

And what that really encompasses is everything that kind of enriches the day to day life through that creative exploration can and does happen at Centrum and has been for over 50 years now.

Wow.

That's beautiful.

What ways are you planning to change, grow, expand?

Centrum was founded a little over 50 years ago alongside the formation of Fort Worden as a state park, and it was founded with the idea of being a home for Washington's arts organ, like creative practice in the arts.

And so through this 50 years, Centrum has had its kind of thumb on the pulse of what's happening inside Washington and globally.

And where we are now is not just a beautiful arts organization here on kind of the peninsula of Washington, but we have this global impact.

So I think Centrum, for the past 50 years and for the next 50 years, are looking at how we continue to enrich people's lives through creative practice and through filling the world with, like, art and music.

Yeah.

I love it.

So when Centrum’s really working, what does that look like?

I think when Centrum’s really working, we're promoting and making sure that art and music happen in the best way to the most people possible.

And the accessibility of our scholarship program is a really great way to highlight that through our gala.

I'm really excited because this year, our guest is Wynton Marsalis, and I was telling my dad about this.

He lives in Kentucky and kind of keeping him up there with my life.

And I told him who our guest was, and he was, like, delightfully shocked.

But I think what's incredible is that it's not just a certain generation of people who are going to know who Wynton Marsalis is, or be able to experience that kind of pedigree of artistry.

But last year's guest was Rhiannon Giddens, and Rhiannon Giddens has been a teacher and she's been a faculty member here at Centrum.

But she also recently was play the banjo on Beyonce's top single Texas Hold'em.

So you have this huge range of musical excellence, all kind of captured here at Centrum.

That's incredible.

Well, I am so excited that I have a chance to experience it here this week.

I'm Angela, thank you for exploring.

I’ll see ya.