Who We Are
The Chocolate Church Arts Center is located in Historic Bath, Maine, and presents world class visual and performing arts to mid-coast Maine in our landmark venue. We host home-grown, regional, and international performances in our 300 seat proscenium theater and in our attached 80 seat Annex which operates as a club/cabaret style venue. We activate spaces beyond our walls with waterfront concerts and large-scale community parades. Our Art Lab hosts space weekly for new and mature artists of all ages to engage with experimentation and creative acts. Our music education program offers high quality lessons for all ages. For more than 40 years the Chocolate Church Arts Center has been offering a rich program of live music, gallery exhibitions, theatre for young artists, lectures and workshops.
Our History
The fate of the Central Church was uncertain and in jeopardy of being destroyed. Recognizing its architectural significance and in the spirit of embracing the community’s history of cultural arts exemplified through the Bath Opera House of 1913 and other historical theatres, a collection of well-intended artists and entrepreneurs seized an opportunity.
In the late sixties, a young New York theatrical designer named Jack Doepp took an interest in the vacant 1847-built facility on Washington Street in Bath. Sagadahoc Preservation, Inc., a non-profit that saved the former Congregational Church from urban renewal destruction, owned the venerable old building. Jack bought the old building and soon formed the Performing Arts Center of Bath (PACB). With an all-volunteer staff, PACB began presenting concerts and plays for mid-coast audiences.
No one would refer to this new venture as PACB. The name did not stick. Therefore, the Chocolate Church Arts Center (CCAC) was incorporated and received 501(3)(c) status in 1977. Over the ensuing 40 years the CCAC has presented graphic, visual, and performing arts to midcoast Maine while preserving and protecting its historic home, the former Central Church built in 1847.
A sense of community has been central to the Chocolate Church since it opened its doors in 1977 and community involvement is what keeps the doors open today. All are welcome and everyone will be entertained.
