The Kimmel Center Voted "Best of Philly"
New Performing Arts Center's Diverse Programming Draws Praise from City and Regional Press
August 1, 2002
The Ryan Irish Dancers gather a crowd in Commonwealth Plaza during Summer Solstice at The Kimmel.
"Whether you love or hate the architecture, The Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall and Perelman Theater have reinvigorated the city's cultural life," writes Philadelphia in the August 2002 issue. "From the Philadelphia Orchestra to Jerry Blavat's summer dance parties, from the Charlie Chaplin film festival to Rennie Harris's Illadelph Hip Hop Legends, The Kimmel has achieved its goal: to be a cultural center for all tastes."
The Kimmel Center kicked off its first summer season by staying open all night on June 21st for a Summer Solstice Celebration featuring dozens of local and regional artists. Solstice was followed by four weekend festivals in July, each with a different theme. Americana Fest over the July 4th holiday headlined Harry Belafonte, the Neville Brothers, Judy Collins and Arlo Guthrie. Fiesta Latina from July 12-14 featured Latin music ranging from bossa nova to Cuban son to Portuguese fado plus three nights of flamenco dancing. Buckwheat Zydeco and Celtic fiddler Natalie MacMaster highlighted a weekend of all-family entertainment July 19-21. The summer festival series concluded July 26-28 with jazz and rap music, hip hop dancing, and gospel.
Tickets for all summer performances ranged from just $10 to $40. Free concerts were also held every Friday , Saturday and Sunday in July.
2002 Summer at the Kimmel continues in August with dance parties every Wednesday night featuring salsa, ballroom, disco and doo-wop dancing. All tickets are $10 at the door.
Here's more of what the press is saying about The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts' first summer season:
"This is for you folks who have yet to venture to Broad and Spruce Streets to experience the Avenue of the Arts' gem firsthand. 'The tickets are too pricey,' you say? 'None of the performances interest me,' you say? Well, fiddle-dee-dee. Tonight, $10 gets you 12 straight hours of top-notch performers at the marathon Summer Solstice Celebration, from 8pm to 8am Saturday. Diversity of talent abounds ..."
- Jennifer Dorazio, "The Kimmel Center-on the cheap," The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 21
"The Kimmel Center ... is kicking things off by living up to their promise that the domed building will be accessible to all, all the time ..."
- Debra Auspitz, "Artsbeat," Philadelphia City Paper, May 23
"Lang Lang leads a lineup of artists that is anything but the usual stuff ... the $10-a-ticket festival is designed to inaugurate the arts center's first summer of events and give local artists a chance to demonstrate their talents."
- Anne Levin, "All the unusual stuff," Trenton Times, June 16
"It's 2:45am-do you know where your culture is? At this particular moment in The Kimmel Center, it depends on which culture you mean..."
- Peter Dobrin, "Solstice festival offers hipper side of arts venue," The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 23
"... the all-night Summer Solstice celebration at The Kimmel Center, a way-cool event that offered 12 hours of music and all kinds of entertainment for a mere $10."
- Trish Cofiell, Delaware County Times, June 26
"Apparently, the folks at The Kimmel Center ... didn't receive the memo that Philadelphia 'closes down' for the July Fourth weekend. And aren't we city slickers glad! ... the newcomers running the Kimmel Center are going all-out to serve the populace with a super ambitious, multi-day Americana Fest featuring top-notch national talent."
- Jonathan Takiff, "Looking for something to do? Stay in Philly," Philadelphia Daily News, July 3
"Four themed weekends of entertainment-some of it free-provide a populist menu of summer entertainment at Philadelphia's new performing arts center."
- Robert Baxter, "Kimmel Center presents weekends of diversity," Courier Post, July 5
"... The Kimmel Center offers an eclectic roster of entertainment to accommodate a wide variety of tastes. From hip hop to be-bop, you'll find it at The Kimmel Center."
- Kimberly Roberts, "Kimmel Center comes alive with Latin, jazz and soul," Philadelphia Tribune, July 5
"... the gleaming new Kimmel Center has included a Latin music festival - or, Fiesta Latina-to its all-demographics-pleasing summer mix ... The Kimmel is using the Fiesta Latina to reach out to Philadelphia's Latino community."
- Sono Motoyama, "Latin American bandstand," Philadelphia Daily News, July 9
"If you've always considered Philadelphia more historic than hip, the folks at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts would like you to reconsider."
- Rob Lovitt, "Philly cuts loose with four music festivals," Expedia.com
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The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts owns, manages, supports and maintains The Kimmel Center, manages The Academy of Music, and serves as home to nine Resident Companies. These companies include Kimmel Center Presents, a program that offers a rich diversity of choices to complement presentations by the other companies. Activities of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts also include arts-in-education programming provided by the Merck Arts Education Center and free entertainment throughout the year featuring a wide range of local and regional artists.
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