The Great Neck Center for the Visual and Performing Arts will celebrate its grand opening this coming weekend. The grand opening evening gala is Saturday, Sept. 6, to be followed by an open house for the entire community the next day, Sunday, Sept. 7.

What a thrill for the community! "We are back on the cultural arts map," exclaims Executive Director Regina Gil. How right she is.

What joy to have our very own arts center--to enjoy performances and presentations; to learn or to even just "dabble" in the arts; to have Great Neck known as a real live center for the arts, where everyone, young or old, is welcome to come and revel in this delicious exposure to the art world "right in our own back yard."

For the few who have not already enjoyed a taste of the arts center at its new home at 113 Middle Neck Road (in the Squire Cinemas complex), this week-end will be a real eye-opener. All we could desire--music, art, dance--is right in the heart of Great Neck.

The entire community is invited to attend Sunday's open house, complete with guided tours and lots of lively entertainment, both at the arts center and all over the peninsula. (Of course, everyone is invited to visit the arts center any weekday during open hours; call 829-2570 for exact times.)

The glittering Saturday night gala affair will be all that has been promised--glamorous, elegant, complete with art world celebrities.

And even though the anticipated guest of honor, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, is unable to make the theater dedication in his honor, this weekend really is not about celebrities; this weekend is about Great Neck and its wonderful world of the cultural arts. This weekend is about the Great Neck Center for the Visual and Performing Arts and the very fortunate people (all of us) who will have the pleasure of coming to 113 Middle Neck Road.

So, while it is wonderful to be able to dedicate one of the new movie theaters to former Great Neck resident Francis Ford Coppola, it is much more exciting that we are privileged to finally have this new arts center in our midst.

So come, enjoy this gift we have been given. Enjoy the Great Neck Arts Center!

-- Wendy K. Kreitzman