Perkins Center For the Arts

Specialties

Perkins Center for the Arts is dedicated to excellence in the arts and to providing a wide range of creative opportunities for people of all ages and of every level of artistic development. Since 1977, Perkins Center for the Arts has been providing arts opportunities to the Southern New Jersey Region and beyond. Today Perkins Center for the Arts has locations in both Moorestown and Collingswood. Central to our mission is the belief that artists and the language of the arts are ideal for perceiving and interpreting the complex modern world in which we live. Perkins Center is unique in its ability to provide high quality art programs in a grassroots community setting.

Perkins Center’s programs include: Studio Classes in the visual and performing arts; a Conservatory of Music; an Exhibition Series in our Moorestown and Collingswood facilities; a performance series, Summer Arts Program, Arts Reaching the Students Program, Community Collaborations Program and Folklife Center.

History

Established in 1977.

In 1815, the triangular piece of property that now includes Perkins Center for the Arts was established by Joseph French and John Perkins as Fairview Nurseries. The property was utilized as a nursery specializing in ornamental trees. Some of the specimen trees on the property today are believed to be from this time.

The home on the former nursery property was built in 1910 by Herbert C. Wise, a noted Philadelphia architect, as a wedding gift to Alice and Dudley Perkins (from Dudley’s parents) for the approximate cost of $ 12,000. The home, named by the family as Evergreen Lawn, is built in the Tudor Revival style inspired by English manor homes of the 15^th and 16^th centuries. After many years in the home, the property and home were bequeathed to the Township of Moorestown to be used in perpetuity as a park or other suitable township purpose. Perkins Center was established by the community in 1977.