Sidney Kimmel Announces $5 Million Endowment for Kimmel Center to Provide Arts Education to Philadelphia Children
Center Reveals Kimmel as Anonymous Donor of $7 Million for Capital Costs
November 8, 2001
Sidney Kimmel
Sidney Kimmel today announced another gift to The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Adding to the $15 million he already contributed to the Center, Kimmel is giving $5 million to fund performing arts education programs and access to the Center for Philadelphia area school children.
The new $5 million gift will create an endowment that will permanently fund The Kimmel Community Partners Program. Commenting on the endowment gift, Mr. Kimmel said, "I am especially proud of our ability to provide perpetual access to The Kimmel Center for the entire community of Philadelphia area school children. All of the educational programs that students will now have access to augment the impact of this performing arts center for the entire community for generations to come."
Joined by Regional Performing Arts Center (RPAC) President Leslie Anne Miller and Chairman Willard Rouse III, Kimmel announced the gift prior to introducing 11-year-old Mateo Ramon Jimenez, a piano student from the Philadelphia School District's Girard Academic Music Program. More than 7,000 students from area schools will benefit from the new Kimmel endowment gift each year.
"The Kimmel Community Partners Program is all-encompassing," said Miller. "The programs are designed to reach children of all ages and at times convenient to their schedules. We are literally bringing the arts into the classrooms, opening the Center for tours and workshops, providing opportunities to see performances and ultimately cultivating performance arts appreciation."
At the event, Miller revealed that earlier this year, Kimmel had also made an anonymous donation of $7 million for capital costs for The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, bringing Kimmel's total giving to $30 million.
"The Regional Performing Arts Center is truly grateful to Mr. Kimmel for his continued support, commitment and passion for this project and for the community," said Rouse. "Mr. Kimmel's dedication to the people of Philadelphia is unmatched."
At the conclusion of the event, Miller, Rouse and Kimmel came together to unveil for the first time the official sign naming The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
The new 450,000 square-foot Kimmel Center was designed by internationally acclaimed architect Rafael Vinoly. It features the 2,500-seat Verizon Hall, a state-of-the-art concert hall that will be home to the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra, and the 650-seat Perelman Theater. The Kimmel Center will join the historic Academy of Music to form the Regional Performing Arts Center, one of the nation's largest performing arts complexes. The Kimmel Center and the Academy of Music will also be home to the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Ballet, American Theater Arts for Youth, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and Peter Nero & the Philly Pops. The Kimmel Center will officially open on December 16.
The Steinway played at today's event was provided by Jacobs Music of Center City. Steinway is the official piano of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
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