First Night Coming to Champlain's Alumni Auditorium

First Night poster

BURLINGTON — First Night Burlington 2014 performances originally scheduled for the College Street Congregational Church on New Year's Eve (December 31) have been moved to Alumni Auditorium at Champlain College. The shift in venues is the result of the tragic arson fire that struck the College Street landmark on October 23.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to the members of the College Street Congregational Church community as they work to rebuild and restore the historic steeple, clock tower, and sanctuary," said First Night Burlington Executive Director Tom Ayres. "The church has been an integral part of First Night Burlington since the festival's founding in 1983 and we look forward to many more years of presenting renowned artists in the church's beautiful sanctuary."

Alumni Auditorium — the replacement venue for the College Street Congregational Church — is located in the Hauke Student Center at 375 Maple St. in the heart of the Champlain College campus. First Night performers scheduled to appear there include Lowell Thompson (solo and with his band, Crown Pilot); Aaron Flinn; Toni Catlin and Brett Hughes; Marty Morrissey and Robert Resnik; Aya Inoue and Friends; and Michael Chorney with his band, Hollar General.

"We are grateful to the administration, faculty, and students of Champlain College for making the outstanding Alumni Auditorium facility available for First Night 2014 performances," First Night's Ayres said.

Watch the promo for Africa to Vermont filmed at the Miller Information Center.


Founded in 1878, Champlain College is a small, not-for-profit, private college in Burlington, Vermont, with additional campuses in Montreal, Canada, and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain offers a traditional undergraduate experience from its beautiful campus overlooking Lake Champlain and over 90 residential undergraduate and online undergraduate and graduate degree programs and certificates. Champlain's distinctive career-driven approach to higher education embodies the notion that true learning occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's The Best 384 Colleges: 2019 Edition. For the fourth year in a row, Champlain was named a "Most Innovative School" in the North by U.S. News & World Report's 2019 "America's Best Colleges,” and a “Best Value School” and is ranked in the top 100 “Regional Universities of the North” and in the top 25 for “Best Undergraduate Teaching.” Champlain is also featured in the Fiske Guide to Colleges for 2019 as one of the "best and most interesting schools" in the United States, Canada and Great Britain and is a 2019 College of Distinction. For more information, visit champlain.edu.