Hylton Performing Arts Center

The Hylton Center is a multi-use facility with a concert hall (Merchant Hall) seating 1,123 and a black box space (Gregory Family Theater) seating 242 in theater mode or 300 for a sit down dinner.  The two spaces have seperate dressing rooms and can operate simultaneously.  The ancillary facilities provide room for breakouts and rehearsals.  

The Center was created under a tripartite agreement between the City of Manassas, the County of Prince William and the Commonwealth of Virginia and Goerge Mason University, then given to the University to operate.  Because of this agreement, the focus is on the community both as audience and as performers.  The rental rate structure provides for a substantial discount for the resident arts partners and affiliates who are community artists from those jurisdictions.

Our vision statement is to be the creative commons of a vibrant region, inspiring the community to express its voice by participating in the Center's work as artists, audience and life long learners.  Our mission is to entertain, educate and enrich the surrounding region by providing diverse and accessible arts experiences in state-of-the-art venues.  To meet these values, we offer a mix of national and international performing groups presented by the University along with rental performing groups ranging from small community performers to national touring groups.  We are also home to an affiliate of the One Million Cups business group, many Life Long Learning presentations, a lecture series by the science professors on campus, school performances by local and national groups, various performing arts classes, corporate meetings and events and even weddings!  We also have recently become a location for Naturalization Ceremonies with over 1,500 new citizens recently walking through our doors.