Art, Music and Theater

Poet Laureate

Stockton's own Poet Laureate authors poems to lift 

Stockton Arena, Stockton Ballpark, Bob Hope Theatre and Oak Park Ice Arena

ASM Global manages the Stockton Arena, Stockton Ballpark, Bob Hope Theatre, and Oak Park Ice Arena for the City of Stockton. ASM Gloval is a world leader in venue management, marketing, and development. For event and venue information, visit the External Links at the bottom of this page. 

 

Bob Hope (Fox) Theatre

Front of Bob Hope Theater buildingThe Historic Fox Theatre in Downtown Stockton is one of only two movie palaces in the Central Valley. And well after 20,000 people attended the grand opening on October 14, 1930, the theatre continues to showcase beloved movies and live performances.

  • In 2001 and in 2002, Congress awarded the City of Stockton $290,000 and $225,000 respectively to help renovate the Fox Theatre.  
  • The State provided an additional a $300,000 with the California Bob Hope Heritage Fund Grant.  
  • In May 2003, Stockton resident and developer Alex G. Spanos donated $500,000 toward the theatre's renovation
  • Restoration of the Bob Hope (Fox) Theatre was complete on September 18, 2004.

At his request, the City Council voted to name the theatre after one of the Country's most beloved entertainers – Bob Hope.

To learn more, contact the Bob Hope (Fox) Theatre at (209) 337-HOPE or see External Links below.

 

Stockton Civic Theatre

Stockton Civic TheatreFor nearly 70 years, Stockton Civic Theatre has provided live entertainment to the Stockton community. Since 1951, the Civic is one of the oldest and most successful continuously running community theatres in America – with more than 384 productions.  

The Civic continues to be a vital part of the Stockton and Central California arts scene thanks to the support of countless volunteers, actors, and patrons. 

Over its long history, SCT has setup in several venues:

  • The Civic started in the Madison School Auditorium for its first 10 years thanks to the Stockton Unified School District.
  • A new home was found in 1962 when the theatre group purchased the Zion Lutheran Church at Willow and Monroe. The church was remodeled into an intimate proscenium theatre of 197 seats.
  • The 1980s brought a new era as the Civic moved to a beautiful new theatre, thanks to a land donation in Venetian Bridges by north Stockton developer Echhardt Schmitz. Schmitz built the new 16,117-square-foot theatre at cost. Fittingly, the play “Chapter Two”, opened the new 300-seat theatre in September 1981.

In its current site on Rosemarie Lane, behind the Stockton Hilton, SCT presents five productions each season, and a Summer Youth Program full-scale musical production. 

 

Public Art in Stockton

Morelli Park Boat Launch Public Art Sculpture in Stockton, CAPublic art projects include:

  • Michael Clapper's, Transcending Vessels, installed at Thornton Road and Estate Drive (July 2018).
  • Scott Runion's metal tree grates provided one of downtown's first public art projects.
  • Stockton artist Molly Toberer created maintenance hole covers in downtown with a unique 1930s style of the Work Progress Administration period.  
  • Dan Snyder's art can be seen in downtown sidewalks with six sets of brass inlays around the downtown area. These inlays caught the attention of Guaranty Bank, who commissioned Stockton’s first public/private public art partnership with a set of brass inlays in front of the Guaranty Bank branch on Hunter Street.
  • Even the Bob Hope Theatre is a recipient of new public art. Check out the sidewalk in front of the theatre and a floor mosaic in the inside rotunda.

For additional information about Public Art in Stockton, please contact the Community Services Department.

 

Children's Museum of Stockton

Museum logoThe Children's Museum of Stockton is located downtown, across from the Deep Water Channel and the Waterfront Warehouse. 

Young visitors enjoy a truly educational experience from the moment they step through the door.  

The museum features hands-on, play-based exhibits to enhance a child's understanding of how the world works.

  • On the exhibit floor over a dozen different child-sized environments recreate the ambiance of a small city where merchants, bankers, and doctors might mingle among the grocery shoppers.
  • At each exhibit in the museum's tiny town, tools and/or machines can be manipulated by the children... who weigh postcards at the post office, count money at the bank, and perform other occupations.

 

Haggin Museum

Museum entranceFor 85 years, the Haggin Museum has acquired and exhibited two important types of collections – one devoted to local history and the other of fine works of art.

In 1928, the San Joaquin Pioneer and Historical Society was incorporated into the museum for the preservation of local historic objects. 

The founding group was aided by former Stocktonian Robert Tittle McKee. McKee's wife, Eila Haggin Mckee, provided funds to include an art gallery as part of the proposed museum. She also donated a collection of paintings which belonged to her father, Louis Terah Haggin.  

Haggin Museum also maintains several research libraries which include:

  • Earl Rowland Art Library,
  • Almeda May Castle Petzinger Library (for California and regional history,)
  • Holt Industrial Archives (materials related to leading early industries), and
  • Stephens Marine Archives (for original architect's drawings, hull files, and miscellani.)

Haggin Museum is located in Victory Park, on Pershing Avenue between Picardy Drive and Argonne Drive.

 

Stockton Symphony

The Stockton Symphony is the third-oldest, continuously performing orchestra in California, surpassed in longevity only by the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It offers both a 5-concert Classics Series and an immensely popular 4-concert Pops Series.

All concerts (except the Pops & Picnic fundraising concert) are held at Atherton Auditorium on the San Joaquin Delta College Campus.

The Symphony prides itself in commissioning new works – one or more each year since Maestro Peter Jaffe joined 17 years ago. The Symphony even received national coverage recently, when it commissioned a new work focused on the issues of conflict and resolution. 

The Stockton Symphony continues to "think outside the concert hall" with its Harmony Stockton program:

  • a free after-school program that combines music introduction and performance with academic tutoring
  • to assist young students in developing life skills toward personal, academic, and social success. 
  • as a partnership of the Symphony, United Way, UOP, and S.U.S.D, to help students develop focus, coordination and shared responsibility in the process of learning.  

 

 

External Links


Stockton Live! (Stockton Arena, Stockton Ballpark, Bob Hope Theatre, and Oak Park Ice Arena)

Bob Hope Theater

Children's Museum of Stockton

Haggin Museum

Stockton Civic Theatre

Stockton Symphony 

 

This City of Stockton web page last reviewed on --- 6/29/2021