Both Herrin and Marion boast community-based civic centers. The Herrin Civic Center is a multi-use facility in downtown Herrin that includes meeting rooms and a performing stage, while the new $8 million Marion Cultural and Civic Center is the premier performance venue in all of southern Illinois. Known for its excellent acoustics, the facility seats over 1000 in a state-of-the-art theatre in the downtown Tower Square Plaza. John A. Logan College in Carterville and SIUC in Carbondale also have outstanding facilities for the dramatic and performing arts. The recently opened Williamson County Pavilion offers flexible space for conferences, trade shows, regional meetings and private catered events such as wedding receptions, birthday parties and anniversary celebrations.
All of the cultural facilities sponsor a Fine Arts Series so numerous music and drama options are open to the people of southern Illinois. In addition, the high school music, art and drama departments present several programs annually in all communities of the area. Private dance, music and art studios offer lessons and recital opportunities for young and old alike. Long established community drama groups perform in Herrin, Marion, Carterville, Carbondale, the community colleges and at SIUC.
Williamson County is steeped in history and has a number of buildings on the National Register of Historic Sites. The former jail is now the home of the Williamson county Historical Society Museum and is filled with interesting memorabilia of the county’s long history. For more information on these and other cultural opportunities in the area, click on Williamson County Tourism Bureau.