Partners for the PAC is a coalition of local organizations that maintains the Charlene Larsen Center for the Performing Arts (PAC) for affordable public arts and educational events.

Astoria Lions Club
Astoria Pride
Cascadia Chamber Opera (CCO)
KMUN (Coast Community Radio)
North Coast Big Band (NCBB)
North Coast Chorale (NCC)
North Coast Symphonic Band (NCSB)
North Oregon Coast Symphony (NOCS)
Sunset Empire Amateur Radio Club (SEARC)

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The Charlene Larsen Center for the Performing Arts began its life as Trinity Lutheran Church. It was designed by Astoria architect John Wicks and constructed during the depression on the site of the original Convent of the Holy Name. The church purchased the land in 1930 and the construction was financed through a depression-relief program. The church was completed in 1936 and three years later a 23-rank Estey pipe organ was installed in the church.

After the Trinity congregation moved to another building in 1974, the PAC was acquired by Clatsop Community College and reopened in 1977 as a performing arts center. In 1998 the College removed the building from the City of Astoria’s list of local landmarks and removed the upper one-third of the steeple because the structure was “un-reparable and a danger.”

In 2016 a purchase offer was made to the College from an investor who wanted to use the property for housing.  The offer was rejected, and the college and the Partners for the PAC began looking for ways to transfer ownership and still keep the building intact as a performance venue.  Trinity LLC was formed in 2020 by local businesswoman Constance Waisanen for the purpose of purchasing the building from the college.  As a former Board Member of the Partners for the PAC,  Waisanen has turned the full responsibility for programming, repairs, and maintenance over to the Partners, with the intention that eventually the Partners will be in a position to take ownership.

The building, now named the Charlene Larsen Center for the Performing Arts, remains a gem in the community. It is an indispensable performance and rehearsal resource for local and visiting performing arts groups. With an audience capacity of 250, the PAC fills a distinct niche within the cultural community of Clatsop and Pacific counties and makes access to a wide range of experiences available and affordable to all who live and work here.