Attracting more than 90,000 visits annually, the mission of the CAC is to provide opportunities for area residents to experience visual and performing arts, with benefits for education, entertainment, quality of life, and economic development. Here, people come together in ways that stimulate lifelong learning and community interaction between people of all ages.
New exhibits open in five CAC galleries about every six to eight weeks. Visitors attend opening night receptions where they meet the artists and view art. Many works are available for sale.
Museum trips, classes and workshops are available in the CAC Art Studio along with ceramics, painting and more. Additional class offerings include yoga, ballet, Broadway and ballroom dance series. The CAC provides a venue for 15 affiliate and member groups that meet regularly.
Offering volunteer opportunities, friendships, and fund raising activities in support of the Center, the CAC Contemporaries also present Hands On for 2,000 3rd and 4th grade students each year, a multidisciplinary arts program incorporating gallery, movement, art and theatre organized around various cultural themes.
Partnering with public, private and home schools, more than 14,000 area students attend Arts-In-Education programs at the CAC and on various campuses blending onstage entertainment by touring professionals with core curriculum subjects.
Today, the CAC provides affordable technical support and a venue where area residents can raise the bar on community productions, while a mix of regional and nationally touring artists offer “something to copy,” demonstrating the vision of founders Nora Lee Wendland and Raye Virginia Allen. Each year the CAC brings an eclectic variety of artists on its Performing Arts Season, and the Central Texas Orchestral Society presents a classical season of professionally touring artists. From post-concert receptions to summer camps for kids, people come to the Azalee Marshall Cultural Activities Center for new experiences to enrich their lives.
CAC facilities provide a venue for planning beautiful, showcase events, including weddings, receptions, business meetings or regular club gatherings in small and large rooms with a variety of amenities and the unique ambience of its art galleries.
The CAC Art Studio features a general art classroom, a ceramics classroom and glaze room. CAC Visual Arts Director and others host regular clay classes, while a multidisciplinary variety of artists offer class instruction and workshops for adults and children.
Offering a range of programs more commonly found in larger metropolitan areas, The Azalee Marshall Cultural Activities Center is a unique community resource, where Bell County residents come to create a culture of fun.
Evolving from a wildly-successful, three-day arts festival sponsored in 1957 by the City Women’s Federation, the nonprofit, Cultural Activities Center was incorporated the next year, beginning with the idea that arts and culture, along with science and technology, would be essential to a vibrant community. The mission of the Cultural Activities Center is to enhance the quality of life in Bell County by stimulating interest and promoting participation in the arts. This mission encompasses three roles for the organization: to present professional, visual and performing arts events for the community; to produce, present and promote community level arts activities and events, and to provide arts education opportunities for citizens, especially children.In the early years, community groups developed art, drama, music and literature departments, hobbies and youth activities, always operating in borrowed, rented, or converted spaces. Azalee Matthews Marshall was the first paid director. In 1978 the CAC opened at its present location just off northbound Interstate 35 on land donated to the City by Frank Mayborn, realizing Mrs. Marshall’s dream of a facility with programs to involve entire families.
CAC Permanent Collection includes works donated by area & community artists, 20 works in the von Stoffler Memorial collection of contemporary art, the Richard Hunt sculpture, "Orpheus," seven Native American pieces including vessels, basketry and moccasins. We also have a touring exhibit including panels detailing the life of fashion icon Gordon Conway and books by Raye Virginia Allen. Another touring exhibit, "Insight to No Sight" is a multi-sensory exhibit of artifacts set up and "viewed" entirely in the dark raising awareness and sensitivity about challenges common to people with visual impairment.
Baylor Opera Productions history--miniature sets & documentation
CAC opens new exhibits in its galleries every 6-8 weeks on average. We exhibit Permanent Collection pieces at various times of year. The Permanent Collection is housed in the Sternberg Room, a climate/humidity-controlled space, named for the late Felicitas & Daniel Sternberg, of Waco. Mr. Sternberg chaired the Dept. of Music at Baylor University. The Sternberg Room may be toured by appointment.