Central Ohio has two new entertainment and arts venues that promise a wide range of opportunities to have fun. They’ll enable you to rock out with headline musical acts or bounce on Broadway with some of the best hoofers around.

Columbus Crew Stadium has installed a new and permanent $2-million concert stage at its facility, just north of the Ohio State Fairgrounds, off of I-71. “We’re filling a niche and a presumed void,” says David Stephany, Crew Stadium communications director. Stephany is assuming Germain Amphitheater will not reopen this season, although as of this writing, no decision on the future of the Polaris Parkway outdoor stadium has been announced.

Crew Stadium will be able to hold up to 30,000 people for an open-air concert. Saving Jane christened the new stage March 29 for the Crew’s home opener against Toronto FC. Crew Stadium also is hosting what it calls the nation’s premier rock festival in May. Rock on the Range, a two-day rock-fest, sold out in 2007.

This year’s festival features the Stone Temple Pilots, who haven’t performed publicly for more than seven years. “If we can do between six to 10 concerts a season, that would be great,” Stephany says. Concert promoters should be excited about the stadium’s central location and its three-season availability. Not to mention the Crew’s 15 regular season soccer games and international competition.

The arts and entertainment spotlight is also shining brightly in New Albany, thanks to its new $15 million Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts. “It’s an arts showcase for children and adults,” says J. Craig Mohre, president of the New Albany Community Foundation, an arm of the Columbus Foundation. Voters in the New Albany-Plains Local School District approved a bond issue in 2001 to build a shared auditorium for all schools in the district. “The 786-seat auditorium is intimate, not ornate or flashy,” Mohre adds. “But it has great acoustics and great sight lines that patrons will enjoy.” The arts center also has a dance studio, rehearsal rooms, dressing rooms and more.

The school district will use the arts facility about 60 percent of the time. “We want to use the arts center as a vehicle to enrich public-school curriculums,” Mohre says. For example, students studying American history will get the opportunity to hear lectures from leading historians. “Partnerships with area arts groups, including CAPA, BalletMet, the New Albany Community Orchestra and Community Chorus, will provide exciting new opportunities to expose people to the arts,” Mohre says.

Between Crew Stadium, the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts and the soon-to-open Lincoln Theater, in east Columbus, Central Ohio could become the arts-envy of cities across the country. The only limit for any of these venues will be the size of their dreams. And considering the foundation each has laid, they’re already dreaming big.

Watch Jerry Revish on the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. editions of 10TV News HD.