Ruth Eckerd Hall recognized internationally

Two new publications have ranked Clearwater's Ruth Eckerd Hall as one of the top performance venues in the world.

Pollstar, an industry trade magazine, says the Hall ranked 13th in the world in buildings with 5,000 seats or less. Ruth Eckerd also came in second in venues having 2,500 seats or less. This ranking is based on ticket sales from the first half of this year. The Hall placed higher than other well-known facilities such as Los Angeles's Universal City Walk, the Chicago Theater, Atlanta's Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center and Orlando's Bob Carr Performing Arts Center.

Another trade publication, Venues Today, says the Hall is 12th in the world in facilities with 5,000 seats or less and second in the world  in venues having 2,500 seats or less. This ranking is based on ticket sales from mid-October 2009 to mid-May 2010. This magazine ranks Ruth Eckerd higher than New York City's Beacon Theatre and Boston's Citi Wang Theatre.

Ruth Eckerd Hall officially has 2,180 seats and a Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation design. Many consider the auditorium acoustically perfect and it features more than 200 performances a year.