The Shaw Center is one of the top performing arts venues in the Midwest. It houses Graceland's performing arts facilities, including a black box theatre, a recital hall, and a 500-seat auditorium. The building's two wings are lined with classrooms and practice rooms, a movement room, a corridor art gallery, and the box office. The atrium and lobby are popular event spaces, and the amphitheatre beside the main entrance invites to outdoor gatherings.
ON THE WALL
80 Blocks make up the wall sculpture in the Shaw Center lobby. The clay mural, entitled The Seed, was commissioned in 1979 by Jay ’64 and Cherry ’65 Newcom in honor of Jay’s parents, Loyal and Arden Newcom. It was designed by Dan Keegan (Graceland art faculty member from 1974-76 & 1980-90) with assistance from Kauila “Mel” Clark ’67 (Graceland art faculty member from 1971-84), Ember Moonbourn ’75, Dewey Keaweehu ’84 and Patty Kochaver ’84. The plaque for the mural reads, “Education nurtures the seed, or core of people, so they come into full bloom.”