Barbara McClellan and other members of Theatre Longview perform in January at the Arts!Longview Honors gala at the Longview Community Center. (Les Hassell/Longview News-Journal File Photo)

Special to the News-Journal

Barbara McClellan, a leading figure in Longview’s theater, music and culinary arts community, will receive the 2025 Arts!Longview Lifetime Achievement Award for Artistic Excellence during an event Saturday night.

McClellan will be recognized during the third annual Arts!Longview Honors celebration at the Longview Community Center. The event is open to the public, and tickets are available.

Arts!Longview Honors is a one-night, Broadway-style event celebrating the Arts!Longview Cultural District, its eight arts and culture organizations and recognizing the Lifetime Achievement honoree.

Past honorees are Pat George Mitchell, founder of Longview Ballet Theatre, and James Snowden, founder of Longview Symphony Orchestra and East Texas Symphonic Band.

“Barbara McClellan has played an instrumental role in multiple facets of our arts community for five decades,” Arts!Longview Executive Director Christina Cavazos said. “As a music educator, she taught countless students. As a food columnist, she encourages a love of the culinary arts in our community. As an actor, musical director, and avid theatre supporter, she has played an integral role in our theater community since 1975, and she was a key figure in the establishment of Theatre Longview in 2012.”

McClellan previously said she is “humbled” and “overwhelmed” to receive the recognition.

“Being off stage and waiting to go on — there’s no experience like it,” McClellan said. “I wanted theater performers in our community to have that experience. I just wanted to pass that on to other people. It just started with a phone call I made. … ‘There’s no business like show business,’ as Irving Berlin wrote. I wanted lots of people in Longview to have that experience for years to come.”

McClellan grew up in Tyler and cultivated a love of cooking from her mother. She attended Baylor University, from which she graduated in 1961 with a music educator degree. Throughout the years, she taught students and inspired in them a love of singing.

In 1970, she published her first food column in the Longview News-Journal, which still publishes in the newspaper’s weekend edition as well as in the Tyler Morning Telegraph.

She is also a published author of three cookbooks and previously operated a restaurant in downtown Longview.

McClellan became active in the former Longview Community Theatre in 1975. Between 1975 and 1996, she starred in multiple productions, including musicals.

McClellan moved in 1996. When she returned to Longview in 2011, she said she was saddened to learn Longview Community Theatre had disbanded in the early 2000s and there was not a community theater for adult performers.

“Barbara McClellan, who many of us at Theatre Longview lovingly refer to as ‘Bubbe,’ was the catalyst for the founding of Theatre Longview. Barbara got the first small group of potential board members together for a meeting, which later grew into what is now Theatre Longview,” said Denise Knutson, executive director for Theatre Longview. “Barbara has continued to be an avid supporter and has offered invaluable guidance over the years. We are forever grateful for her impact on the theatre community in Longview and are thrilled she is receiving this well-deserved honor.”

Arts!Longview Honors is the signature fundraiser for Arts!Longview, a nonprofit organization that manages the state-designated Cultural District.

Saturday’s Honors celebration will feature a Broadway style program with performances by by ArtsView Children’s Theatre, East Texas Symphonic Band, Theatre Longview and a variety of special guest performances.

Tickets also include valet parking, a reception with hors d’oeuvres and drinks, live music throughout the evening and more.

Tickets cost $100 and can be purchased at bit.ly/4c1rDk5 .

Pre-show reception at the Longview Community Center begins at 6:30 p.m., while seating for the show starts at 7:30.

To learn more about Arts!Longview, visit visitlongviewtexas.com/211/ArtsLongview . To learn more about Theatre Longview, visit theatrelongview.com.