Mondavi Center

Approaching the Mondavi Center from Campus.

Location

One Shields Ave. (Campus), next to the Buehler Alumni & Visitors Center

Ticket Office Hours

Mon-Fri 10:00AM-6:00PM, Sat 12:00PM-6:00PM

Also open one hour prior to all ticketed events

Phone

(530)754-2787 Ticket Office

(530)754-5000 Administration

Website

http://www.mondaviarts.org (recommended for the opera crowd)

http://www.mondavistudents.org (recommended for the broke student)

The Mondavi Center for the Arts opened in 2002 as UC Davis' beautiful new home for its University Symphony Orchestra and other cultural events. It gives a more upscale environment to host events than Freeborn Hall. The center is named after famed vintner Robert Mondavi and his wife Margrit Mondavi, who donated $10 million toward the building cost.

And as seen from the front. The stage

If you are student and interested in any of the shows there, all students (no matter which school you attend) get a 50% discount. Some find the performances to still be a bit pricey, but this is still a good deal for acts that might otherwise be completely unaffordable. Other performances, like a Mahler concert, can run as low as $14 for non-students. Given the headliners and famous speakers that the Center draws this can be a good place for celebrity sightings.

There are also a number of free shows (when?) at the center sponsored by various campus departments.

If you're a student, join the student listserve and periodically they will e-mail "specials" to students. Usually a show is $7 to all students and sometimes free Woodstock's pizza. The catch is when you order via online (you have to), there is a fee for online purchases (Believed to be $2, please check on this).

Jackson Hall is the main event room in the Mondavi Center. It has four tiers and areas of seating and can hold up to 1800 people.

The hall is named after Davis resident Barbara K. Jackson and her late husband W. Turrentine "Turpie" Jackson, who was a UCD history professor. Jackson made her $5 million gift in March of 2001, a critical time when the fund drive for the (then unnamed) center appeared to be in danger of faltering. If her gift had not been eclipsed soon after by the Mondavis' donation, we might very well have the UC Davis Jackson Center instead.

Barbara Jackson has her own box seat in the hall, shown at the arrow in the picture above. Even ushers rarely see her, since she usually comes through the performers' entrance and walks up the fire exit stairs just before the curtain.

The Studio Theatre is for smaller, more intimate performances. The seating can be rearranged to hold up to 250 people. The three arrangements are:

• There are no backpacks allowed inside the auditorium. Their "solution" is having a couple tables in the lobby (for you to leave your backpack on or under) with a sign warning that it is unattended and that you leave your valuables there at your own risk. Fools! They desperately need to install lockers, such as they have at Segundo Dining Commons. More intelligently thought-out places have attended coat check rooms.
  

• Be sure to bring your student ID if you purchased a student ticket.
  

• There are several pay phones in the lobby. Their numbers are 530-747-0556 and 530-747-0543.
  

• Visit their website and sign up to become a volunteer usher. See great shows for free! There is a lengthy application process, dress code, etc. It's not a way of getting in for nothing...
  

• Some have commented that it looks like it's made of plywood from the freeway, and a shrubbery or two would improve the look.
  

• Once trees grow up around it, it will look better. Trees make anything look better. —NickSchmalenberger
  

• There is a gift shop that sells plenty of unnecessary things, like wine with the Mondavi Center on the bottle.
  

• If you plan on performing in Jackson Hall, be aware that the acoustics can be adjusted to fit the needs of your act through use of an orchestral shell and acoustic curtains.

Parking is available across the street in the parking structure. TAPS works every night that the Mondavi holds an event and charges $6 per vehicle. The average wait time to get out of the parking lot is 15 minutes (thanks to TAPS blocking off exits). Options to avoid this wait is parking in other parking lots (some have visitor machines that put out visitor permits), leave the performance early, or sit in your car for 20 minutes while the traffic clears out. The closest lots are 3 (next to Mrak Hall) and 46 (next to Academic Surge), which allow for visitor parking after 5pm. On the weekend, TAPS does not enforce parking so you can avoid paying the $6 by using one of these lots (or nearby streets) rather than the Mondavi parking structure.

• Mondavi Center Summer Music Series