Mark Walter
Director of Community & District Activities
216-529-4052
mark.walter@lakewoodcityschools.org
Corey Farr
Manager, Civic Auditorium
216-529-4160
corey.farr@lakewoodcityschools.org
Questions? Email: civicinfo@lakewoodcityschools.org
Built by the Lakewood Board of Education for $1.2 million in the mid-1950s as part of Lakewood High School, the 2,000-seat auditorium was constructed with the intention of using it for both educational and civic use. It hosts for graduations, concerts, theater perfomances, competitions, recitals, and more.
The Cleveland Orchestra played the first concert of the season at the Civic in 1961 and has played multiple times there, the last being in 2020. The Civic also served as the home to The Great Lakes Theater Festival (formerly the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival) in the ’60s and ’70s.
It is a true civic gem made even more so by the Early Settler "Johnny Appleseed" sculpture by famed designer Viktor Schreckengost gracing its exterior entrance.