The Freeman Arts Pavilion opens its season with a newly renovated facility. Delmarva Public Media's Bryan Russo takes a tour with founder Michele Freeman and talks about bringing her full artistic vision for coastal Delaware to fruition.
The Freeman Arts Pavilion has opened its summer season with a newly renovated $43 million venue, marking a milestone for the arts and music destination that has grown from a small community stage into Delmarva's premier concert venue.
The upgraded pavilion features a new performance stage and redesigned venue layout, capping years of expansion for the Joshua M. Freeman Foundation, which launched the outdoor venue in 2008 to bring arts programming to a region that Michelle DeFibo Freeman, the owner and CEO of the Carl F. Freeman Companies and the founding chair of the Joshua M. Freeman Foundation, once described as an "arts desert."
Standing atop the new lawn overlooking the venue, Freeman reflected on seeing a long-held vision become reality.
"It's everything that I thought it would be," Freeman said. "I've always dreamt that it would be this thing. And I think the execution of that is finding the right people that help you turn your dream into reality." Today, the Freeman Arts Pavilion welcomes more than 130,000 guests annually while offering roughly half of its programming free of charge through an arts access initiative serving nearly 30,000 students across the region.
For Freeman, one defining moment came when Motown legend Diana Ross performed in Selbyville.
"For me being a child of Motown, the moment I saw Diana Ross step on the stage, I was like, 'We're in Selbyville. And Diana Ross is in Selbyville, Delaware.'" The pavilion's latest chapter also arrives as Freeman approaches the 20th anniversary of the death of her husband, Josh Freeman, whose legacy inspired the foundation. Looking back at a family photo displayed backstage during the venue's reopening, Freeman said the moment underscored how far both her family and the organization have come.
"I couldn't have scripted this life," she said. "But I'm grateful for this life."
