About Us:

The Friends of the Performing Arts in Concord (FOPAC) is a non-profit organization which was founded in 1972. Our mission is:

To maintain a venue at 51 Walden Street and provide an environment where individuals and groups involved in music, drama and other arts may perform for the enjoyment of the community.

Carole Wayland, the executive director of 51 Walden, works closely with the Board of Directors to manage and maintain the building. FOPAC provides liaison with the resident performing groups, and hosts special events such as the Veterans Day coffee, a New Year's Eve party, Waltz Night, an Evening with Amanda Carr, and often a community Messiah Sing in December.

The resident groups collaborated for several years to present semi-staged performances of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas: The Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore and The Mikado. In March of 2010, there was a rollicking performance of Die Fledermaus. Opera and Broadway Showstoppers, a show featuring the outstanding soloists from previous FOPAC productions, was performed to a very appreciative crowd in April of 2011. A fully staged performance of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors was presented to a sold-out audience in December, 2011 and again in 2012. In celebration of its 40th anniversary in June 2012, FOPAC produced Puccini's opera La Bohème to great acclaim, and in June 0f 2013, there was a lavishly costumed, outstanding performance of The Merry Widow.

The resident groups are The Concord Band, The Concord Orchestra, and The Concord Players, and there is a dance studio which is rented to several instructors who teach classes ranging from creative movement for children to ballroom dance.