(January 26, 2025) – Barbara McClellan, a leading figure in Longview’s theatre, music, and culinary arts community, received the Arts!Longview Lifetime Achievement Award for Artistic Excellence during a celebration on January 25.
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 theatre community since 1975, and she was a key figure in the establishment of Theatre Longview in 2012.”
McClellan said she was “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 theatre 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, 85, 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 countless students and inspired in them a love of singing. In 1970, she published her first food column in the Longview newspaper. Now, 54 years later, McClellan continues to publish a weekly food column in the Longview News-Journal and in the Tyler Morning Telegraph. She is also a published author of three cookbooks and previously operated a restaurant in Downtown Longview.
A supporter of the performing arts, McClellan became active in the former Longview Community Theatre in 1975. Between 1975 and 1996, she starred in countless productions with Longview Community Theatre and was a key component of many of the organization’s musicals throughout the years. She proclaims “Fiddler on the Roof” to be among her favorite musicals and has starred in the production more times than she can recall. She also served as a musical director at Longview High School, where she worked closely with longtime theatre teacher Pam Mercer-McWilliams on several musical productions throughout the years.
McClellan moved in 1996. When she returned to Longview in 2011, she was saddened to learn Longview Community Theatre had disbanded in the early 2000s and there was not a community theatre for adult performers anymore.
“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.”
Performers at the Arts!Longview Honors Gala recognizing McClellan included ensembles from Theatre Longview, ArtsView Children’s Theatre, Longview Symphony Orchestra, East Texas Symphonic Band, Duck Duck Moose Improv, Meaghan and Matthew Simpson of the Texas Shakespeare Festival, soloist Grant Bridgman, and pianist David Berryhill. Arts!Longview board members Dan Sorey and LaDarian Brown served as the 2025 emcees.