Mattie Kelly Arts Center

The Mattie Kelly Arts Center is a $25 million performing arts and education complex on Northwest Florida State College’s Niceville campus, presenting touring Broadway shows, visiting artists, dance, opera and orchestral concerts. It opened in phases between 1995 and 1997, and the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, which the center hosts, gave the first Mainstage performance in January 1997. The 2026–27 season marks the center’s 30th anniversary and the orchestra’s 40th, and the center has welcomed about 2 million patrons.

The center is at 100 College Blvd E in Niceville, box office phone 850-729-6000, online at mattiekellyartscenter.org. Venues include the two-tier, 1,650-seat Mainstage Theater; the 195-seat Sprint Theater, a flexible black box; the Eva and Donald Tyler Recital Hall, designed for classical music; and an amphitheater for 2,000, with 500 fixed seats and lawn space. Esther Wertheimer’s bronze Seven Dancers, installed in 1997, anchors the central sculpture garden.

The Mattie Kelly Arts Center Galleries in Building 110 are free and open to the public, with 2,700 square feet of exhibition space across three galleries (phone 850-729-6044). The collection holds thousands of works, from ancient amphorae to Salvador Dalí watercolors, plus what the galleries call the world’s largest collection of Emil Holzhauer paintings. The galleries also host the annual Emerald Coast National Juried Art Exhibition.

The box office and galleries are open Monday through Thursday, 10am to 4pm. Both also open 90 minutes before most Mainstage shows. Ticket prices vary by performance, so check the website.