About Central Lakes Community
Performing Arts Center


Our Mission

TO CREATE an environment where local performing artists can develop their craft.

TO SHARE with our community diverse, high-quality arts programming;

and TO GROW a community of practitioners and lovers of
the performing arts.

How We Started

In 1968 the theatre program at Brainerd Community College began under the direction of instructor Bob Dryden. That program, a student-and-community-based theatre, flourishes to this day. The program saw the addition of two theatre spaces, the Chalberg Theatre and the Black Box (renamed the Dryden Theatre). In 2006 Patrick Spradlin started the Cultural Arts Series. In the first two years of operation it featured staged readings of plays, local poets and musicians, and a locally produced film festival. As the popularity of the Series grew, so too did the organization supporting it. The designation of the Central Lakes Community Performing Arts Center in 2012 as an arts affiliate of the college assured the continued viability of both Brainerd Community Theatre and the Cultural Arts Series. 

Joseph (Joey) Yow
CLCPAC Director
[email protected]


Lucy Peterson
Theatre Box Office Manger
[email protected]


Matt Hill
Theatre Technician
[email protected]


Jacob Becker
Theatre Technician
[email protected]


Brenda Ficek
Box Office Assistant
[email protected]


Advisory Board Members

Amy Borash

Kyle Brown

Erich Heppner

Bri Keran

Adam Marcotte

Mary Sam

Levi Trygstad

Kevin Yaeger

Follow Us