Oak View Group-managed Santander Arena and Santander Performing Arts Center in Reading are concluding the 2025 calendar year with strong national recognition, earning placements on Pollstar’s prestigious Year-End Top Grossing Charts and Top Ticket Sales Charts.
These rankings underscore the venues’ continued ability to attract top-tier talent and deliver memorable live entertainment experiences to audiences across the region.
Santander Arena ranked No. 80 among U.S. arenas in total tickets sold, with 137,432 tickets sold, and No. 72 in gross ticket revenue, generating $10,698,199 during the reporting period.
Throughout the year, the arena welcomed a dynamic mix of high-demand events and sold-out performances, reinforcing its reputation as a premier mid-market venue.
Sold-out shows at the Santander Arena during the reporting year included Tito Double P, Forrest Frank, Bulls, Bands & Barrels featuring Ella Langley and Hudson Westbrook, Treaty Oak Revival, Dude Perfect, Nate Bargatze and Ana Gabriel.
The wide range of genres and event types highlights the arena’s ability to successfully host everything from major touring artists and comedy to family entertainment and specialty events.
Similarly, the historic Santander Performing Arts Center earned notable national placements, ranking No. 85 among U.S. theaters in total tickets sold, with 61,566 tickets sold, and No. 89 in gross ticket revenue, totaling $4,028,955 during the same reporting period.
Notable performances at the Performing Arts Center included Rock Orchestra By Candlelight, Stardew Valley, Avatar, Violent Femmes and Michael Blaustein, further demonstrating the venue’s versatility and continued appeal for concerts, comedy and specialty touring productions.
Santander Arena and Santander Performing Arts Center continue to reinforce their status as leading entertainment destinations in eastern Pennsylvania, setting the stage for an even more successful year ahead.
For more information about upcoming events at Santander Arena and Santander Performing Arts Center, visit santander-arena.com.
Art
The Reading Public Museum, 500 Museum Road, has announced the acquisition of a large ceramic sculpture by contemporary Philadelphia-area artist Kukuli Velarde following the annual Purchase Party event, which took place on Nov. 13.
The purchase makes interesting connections to the museum’s collection of works of art from the ancient Americas and helps strengthen its holdings of works by Latin American artists, a recent collecting focus.
More than 100 attendees gathered for the 11th annual Purchase Party, voting on the next work to enter the permanent collection.
This year’s theme was “Pennsylvania Artists: Collecting the Commonwealth,” which featured five works by artists with connections to Pennsylvania.
The five artworks were brought to Reading for consideration, and in the week before the event the public was given the opportunity to vote online for their favorites. This year’s Community Choice was a landscape, “Ramsey Road Farm,” 2025, oil on canvas, by Peter Sculthorpe (American, born in Canada, 1948).
At the end of the night, the winner with the most votes from those in attendance was a work by Velarde (American, born in Peru 1962), “India Patarrajada — She will do all the acrobatics the Master orders, pero no esperes que te quiera mucho … Tlatilco/Olmec, Mexico. 1200-800 BC from 2008.”
The work is white clay, wax, casein paint and resin and is part of her “Plunder Me, Baby” series from the 2000s. In this series, Velarde reinterprets ancient Mesoamerican and South American ceramic forms with humor and biting critique.
Drawing on Olmec and other pre-Columbian traditions, she fuses historical aesthetics with contemporary self-portraiture to confront colonialism, cultural appropriation and the erasure of Indigenous identity. The works reclaim the power and vitality of the ancient Americas while asserting the artist’s own presence within that lineage.
Velarde was born in Peru and lives and works in Philadelphia. She attended Hunter College in New York City where she earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 1992. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2015, and her works are included in the permanent collections of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia; the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore; and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.
“We are thrilled to add this engaging contemporary work that makes commentary on colonialism and forces us to reconsider the historic record,” said Scott Schweigert, curator of art. “Her work is a deeply personal reaction to centuries of plunder and the loss of cultural patrimony. This work will join the permanent collection at RPM for the enjoyment and enrichment of the community for decades to come.”
The museum is open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.readingpublicmuseum.org.
Music
“Holiday Fruitcake 6” has been released worldwide. “Holiday Fruitcake 6” is a collection of new and diverse original music for the Christmas season by artists who offer a creative, alternative music choice to the standard holiday fare.
The album features nine new and original songs. Featured are Busker Incognito & the Christmas Balls, The Gruntles, Lewis Music Inc., Cowboy Ernie Sites, Scoria, The Mohnflowers, Jolene Windmiller and Dave Kline & the Mountain Folk Band. Stream or order CDs from https://smokingbishop.hearnow.com/holiday-fruitcake-6.
“Holiday Fruitcake 6,” released on Smoking Bishop Records, also is available to stream or download on Apple iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, Deezer, YouTube and most other digital music platforms. It’s the sixth in a series of yearly releases started during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way for musician/songwriters to collaborate in order to stay active during the lockdown.
The “Holiday Fruitcake” collection offers musical holiday fun for all in a wide range of music genres.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.readingeagle.com ’
