About Us
Our Vision
To be a premier Event Center.
Our Core Focus
Our Purpose:
We provide a venue that creates a positive and memorable experience for our guests.
Our Niche:
We make events happen!
Our Core Values
Teamwork – We maintain open and honest communications that fosters clear direction of our common goals. We blend the individual talents and skills to foster a one-team approach.
Integrity – We take pride in helping others in a responsible, respectful, trustworthy and an ethical manner.
Service Excellence – We strive to provide excellent service that consistently exceeds expectations.
Community Focused –We seek to offer services and products that align with our community.
Innovation – We challenge ourselves to identify opportunities to better meet the needs of our guests, our team, and our Center.
Our History
The Thrasher-Horne Center is located on the Orange Park campus of St. Johns River State College and presents the very best of professional music, theater, dance and meeting space. Our $22 million, 84,666 sq. ft. venue opened in the Fall of 2004. Former St. Johns River State College President Robert L. McLendon, Jr. named our building after John Thrasher and Jim Horne, both of whom served in the Florida legislature and were instrumental in obtaining funding for the Center. Together these individuals worked with the Clay County Chamber and Tourist Development Council to secure our permanent home on the Orange Park campus of St. Johns River State College, who owns and operates the Center.
Our main stage theater has up to 1728 seats and our conference center has up to 6,260 sq. ft. Since its inception, The Center has played host to hundreds of events, including nationally touring musicians and performers, Broadway musicals, a variety of other cultural offerings, numerous main stage rentals, business meetings, expos, and community receptions. In addition to the Main Stage Theater and Conference Center, the Thrasher-Horne Center boasts a 220 flexible-seat Studio Theater, two Visual Arts Galleries, a full Dance Studio, Scene Shop, and modern dressing rooms with full artist amenities.
For more than 60 years, our parent organization - St. Johns River State College – along with the Florida School of the Arts, have been providing educational, technical and cultural opportunities to the residents of Clay, Putnam and St. Johns counties. Clay County is one of Florida’s fastest growing counties, and the addition of the Thrasher-Horne Center provided the area with its first major flagship cultural arts and event venue facility. Thrasher-Horne Center’s large, modern theatrical and event spaces match in quality to those found in event centers throughout Florida. We offer both superior entertainment, educational value and top-quality event spaces as well as a significant direct economic benefit to Clay County. The Thrasher-Horne Center is unique to the Northeast Florida community because it places an emphasis both on large scale entertainment on the Main Stage as well as business meetings and community receptions held in the Conference Center.
Our Gallery History
Our Main Stage lobby houses two separate gallery spaces: The Lee Adams Florida Artists Gallery and the Jack Mitchell Gallery. Our galleries together make up the Mary Ward Huntley Wing, commemorated with a plaque that hangs between the two spaces.
During our inaugural season, area philanthropist Mary Ward Huntley helped create the two visual arts galleries adjacent to our Main Stage lobby. In addition to donating a large number of Lee Adams original works to our permanent collection, she chose to name one space the Lee Adams Florida Artists Gallery in honor of the local painter. This gallery showcases local Florida artists in a variety of artistic mediums.
The Jack Mitchell Gallery is located at the front of the Huntley Wing. Named after famed late New York photographer Jack Mitchell, it is dedicated to showcasing professional photography and has welcomed the best in both local and national artists. A large number of his notable celebrity portraits and photographs now reside in our permanent collection, thanks to a generous contribution by Mr. Mitchell.
Additionally, the Mary Ward Huntley Florida Artists Fund was established by Mrs. Huntley after the passing of her late husband Louis. This fund helps provide additional financial support for our annual visual arts exhibits, and can be supported publicly through our Donations page
St. Johns River State College Information
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