In October 2016, the opening of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater ushered in a new era of performing arts in Utah. Located in the heart of Salt Lake City, the Eccles Theater boasts beautiful design, lively performance spaces, and tremendous community support. The Eccles Theater is a performance destination. In its first year, the Eccles Theater hosted 197 performances and more than 350,000 patrons. These unprecedented attendance numbers are not surprising though, as Utahans attend more performing arts events than any state in the nation, according to a 2016 study done by the Americans for the Arts. The inaugural year of the Broadway at the Eccles season and Live at the Eccles series truly had events for everyone: Broadway hits including Beautiful, the Carole King Musical and Matilda; concerts from Morrissey to Johnny Mathis to Amos Lee; and spoken word events from Neil DeGrasse Tyson and David Sedaris. Performance spaces include the 2,500-seat, Delta Performance Hall, built for touring productions, concerts, comedy and family events. The versatile 150-seat Regent Street Black Box is a blank canvas, allowing the space to become a theater, a dance stage, a lecture hall, or a reception space. The outdoor McCarthey Plaza ties the Eccles with Regent Street and is a unique urban setting for music, parties, and other gatherings.