The Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater Dedicated
Ruth and Raymond Perelman Honored at the First Society of Founders Event at The Kimmel Center
May 23, 2002
Officials from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia joined leaders of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts tonight for an official dedication of The Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Theater, The Kimmel Center's versatile, intimate 650-seat theater. The dedication was the highlight of the annual Society of Founders event honoring all of the new performing arts center's major contributors, including Ruth and Raymond Perelman whose $5 million gift was a cornerstone donation vital to getting The Kimmel Center built.
"We are here tonight to extend the most heartfelt thanks to Ray and Ruth Perelman for their generosity and their vision," said The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Chairman Willard G. Rouse III. "They shared in our dream to build not only a performing arts center to attract great artists from around the world, but also a civic center, open to everyone in this community every day. And they supported that dream early on with a financial commitment that inspired others to believe and made it possible to turn the dream into reality."
"On behalf of Ruth and our family, I am honored to be here tonight," said Raymond G. Perelman. "We are grateful for all the thanks, but in reality we should be giving thanks to all of you. Thank you for all you have done for the community and its people. Thank you for imagining things that never were, and for the hard work that brought your imaginings to life. And thank you for giving me and my family the opportunity to be part of something that will forever be one of Philadelphia's greatest treasures."
The Society of Founders event, the first to be held in the beautiful new complex, began with a reception in Commonwealth Plaza, The Kimmel Center's town square under glass. Dinner and a program inside Perelman Theater featured a performance by students from GAMP, the Girard Academic Music Program. The evening ended with coffee, jazz music and a spectacular view of the city from the Dorrance H. Hamilton Garden.
Invited guests included all of The Kimmel Center's Society of Founders, 130 individual donors, corporations and foundations who have each contributed $250,000 or more to The Campaign to Build The Kimmel Center. The names of all founders will be inscribed this summer on the black granite Society of Founders wall in the center of Commonwealth Plaza.
"The Kimmel Center and the stunning, innovative Perelman Theater are not just settings where art is staged," said The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts President and CEO Janice Price, "They are art. They are places where we go to renew our human spirit and they remind us of the possible. The Kimmel Center is flourishing. More than a half million people have visited since we opened just a short five months ago. A majority of our performances have been sold out. We've been lauded in publications all over the globe. We've welcomed some of the world's greatest performers and we've welcomed local residents who had never before stepped foot into a theater or concert hall. By every measure we are a success, and we have all of you to thank for that."
An intimate multi-purpose recital hall, the Perelman Theater can accommodate an audience of 650 for conventional and experimental theater, music and dance. Its state-of-the-art turntable stage enables the theater to be transformed from conventional proscenium stage configuration to a smaller arena with a concert shell, ideal for recitals, choral concerts and performances by chamber groups and orchestras.
Perelman Theater is now permanent home to four Resident Companies of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts: PHILADANCO, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, American Theater Arts for Youth and The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. The Perelman Theater also will be used by Kimmel Center Presents for a wide range of both traditional and innovative performances, including recitals, dance, theater, jazz and world music by artists from the region and around the world.
Currently the CEO of Belmont Holdings Corp., Raymond G. Perelman grew up in the Feltonville and Olney sections of Philadelphia, attended the University of Pennsylvania, and began his successful career working in the family business, American Paper Products Company. A World War II veteran, Perelman is chairman emeritus and chairman of the executive committee at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, serves on the board of directors of the Regional Performing Arts Center, the National Museum of American Jewish History, Albert Einstein Health Center and the Penn Medical Board, and is active in numerous other civic, cultural and religious organizations. Raymond and Ruth Perelman have been married since 1941. They have two children, Ronald O. Perelman and Jeffrey E. Perelman, both prominent businessmen, and seven grandchildren.
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