Pat Halloran will retire from a long tenure at the helm of the
Orpheum Theatre at the end of the year. But it won’t signal the end of his involvement in the Memphis arts community. Halloran opened Pat Halloran’s Art Attack Oct. 23 during the opening evening of the annual RiverArtsFest.
The retiring President and CEO of the Orpheum will continue a Downtown presence with the gallery at 526 S. Main St., in the heart of the South Main Historic Arts District. The gallery will feature original works, antiques and Orpheum memorabilia.
Over the next few months the gallery will feature artwork of Memphis artists Ron Olson and Claire Eason. Artists will create onsite from time to time.
Halloran said he’s always had a passion about fine arts. He started the Orpheum’s annual art sale in part to help local artists sell their work.
This is Halloran’s second venture into fine art. Before joining the Orpheum Theatre, he owned and operated Court Square Gallery, which closed in 1977.
“When my gallery closed, Downtown Memphis was all but abandoned,” said Halloran, who is credited with playing an important role in the neighborhood’s rebirth beginning in the early 1980s when he helped reopen the Orpheum. “Opening Art Attack at the height of South Main’s renaissance is nothing short of amazing, not just because it’s a new chapter in my own life, but also because over the past three decades I’ve had the honor of watching the Downtown area completely transform.”
Orpheum merchandise also will be on sale, and all proceeds from those items will benefit the Orpheum’s Halloran Centre for Performing Arts & Education that opened in September.
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