What is the Starlight Bowl?
The Starlight Bowl is a historic outdoor amphitheater in Balboa Park that seats over 4,000 people. Starlight originally opened in 1935 with a unique history of symphonies, musical theater, and rock concert performances. The last production was in 2010 and the venue shut down in 2011, the space was then turned back over to the city. 

Why did Starlight shut down?
Starlight experienced the same fate as many other producing musical theatre entries. The cost of producing shows exceeded the audience and support producing money. 

Will Starlight be producing musical theater again?
No. - The venue is no longer occupied by 'The San Diego Civic Light Opera' the previous tenants. The bowls new tenant is Save Starlight, a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization. The amphitheater will be re-envisioned as an event space. Save Starlight will not be producing shows in-house, rather than, will be operating the historical venue as an event space open 12 months out of the year for a wide variety of scalable performances, community, civic and educational events. 

When will it be open again?
Events and shows happening inside the main bowl are TBD. Much depends on fundraising, ADA compliance, and how fast repairs can be done. The venue will not be able to fully reopen until costly major repairs and upgrades are complete from years of abandonment. We see phased activation, much of the front areas can open soon.

How much will it cost to get it up and running?
Ultimately, this will be a multi-million dollar project.
However, scope and scale are the key words here. Small events in the front area can occur almost immediately at minimal cost, larger events in the main bowl require a much more significant expense.

Can you put on a show or event now?  
No, although we plan to open as soon as possible at the upper section of the bowl with small scalable events, complete with coffee and yummy foods, in tandem with reaching our ultimate goal. 

Can I do a performance, event, or show? 
Yes! Once we are open for operation it will be available, and affordable for everyone. Starlight will be open to the entire San Diego performance and event community to host their productions.

What about plane noise?
There are now many new methods to address external ambient noise that did not exist in the hey day of “freezing for planes.” We will also adjust content and timelines to be least affected by the external noise. We follow what venues have done with similar situations and one of the most exciting techniques of noise canceling wireless headphones is already documented as a game changer in live music performance. Starlight will be on the cutting edge of technology.

How can I help!?

The best way to help, right now, is to make a donation. You can also sign up to volunteer or reach out to us if you have an in kind donation or service to offer!

PayPall us a donation - info@savestarlight.org
Venmo us a donation - @save-starlight
Text to Give # 858-221-9740