Published December 29, 2023

Happy 56^th Birthday, Pioneer Center!

by Dennyse Sewell

With its distinct gold dome, the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts serves as a Reno landmark and an iconic piece of our region’s identity. This unique gem of a theater has been a hub for northern Nevada’s vibrant arts and culture scene since opening for business in 1968. On January 7, 2024, we will celebrate 56 years of bringing art to life in the heart of downtown Reno.

Conceived and built during the “Space Race” of the 1960s when many cities were creating futuristic place-making structures, the building’s unique design was meant to inspire unbounded optimism in our city’s future. Originally named the Pioneer Theater-Auditorium, the 55,000-square foot facility was designed by the Oklahoma City-based architectural firm Bozalis, Dickinson, and Roloff and included a 1,428-seat multipurpose performing arts theater, a large convention space, a cocktail lounge, and several meeting rooms. The geodesic dome was constructed of 500 interlocking gold-anodized aluminum panels and was designed by California-based company Temcor (geodesic dome inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller sat on their Board at the time).

The building was a joint venture between the City of Reno, City of Sparks, and the Washoe County Fair and Recreation Board (now the RSCVA). Local leaders of the 1960s recognized the necessity of creating a home for the performing arts in our city’s center and providing cultural experiences for residents and tourists outside of the robust casino entertainment scene. Making way for the Pioneer Center required the demolition of another beloved community asset, the Nevada State Building, which was home to many civic organizations at the time including the Washoe County Library, Chamber of Commerce, and Nevada Historical Society. The ambitious architectural design of the Pioneer Center required excavation more than two stories below ground into the Truckee River water table, resulting in a concrete bunker that was also a designated fallout shelter location during the final years of the Cold War.

With the completion of the Pioneer Center in January of 1968, world-class artists in our region now had a place to call home by establishing fine arts resident companies. The Reno Phil debuted at the Pioneer Center in 1969, just one year after our opening, and has remained a resident company to this day.  Longtime northern Nevadans will also remember performances by other early resident companies like Nevada Opera Association, Nevada Festival Ballet, Washoe County Concert Association, and Sierra Nevada Masterworks Chorale. Today, in addition to the Reno Phil, our resident companies A.V.A. Ballet Theatre and Artown continue this tradition.    

The Pioneer Center has also been the perfect venue for a variety of touring groups making stops in Reno. The first year of programming saw productions from San Francisco Opera, Ruth Page International Ballet Company, and Utah Civic Ballet (now Ballet West). Since then, other notable highlights include performances by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Itzhak Perlman, David Copperfield, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Rita Moreno, David Sedaris, Ballet Hispanico, the Ukrainian National Symphony Orchestra, The Martha Graham Company, and many more. The Pioneer Center is also the home of the much-beloved Broadway Comes to Reno series, which has brought more than 175 touring Broadway shows to the northern Nevada community since its inception in 1995.

Though downtown Reno has changed quite a bit over the past 56 years, the Pioneer Center remains a steadfast source of shared community experiences and also a robust economic driver in the downtown area. For over half a century, our iconic midcentury theater has connected, enriched, and inspired our region through the power of live performance. I hope you will join me in raising a glass in celebration of all the wonderful artists and events that have graced the Pioneer Center stage since 1968 – and also a toast to the bright future of the performing arts in our region and the many exciting events still to come!

Happy 56^th Birthday, Pioneer Center!

Dennyse Sewell is the President and CEO of the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts in Reno, Nevada

The Transformative Potential of Opportunities in the Arts by Dennyse Sewell — November 17, 2023