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 The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, San DiegoRaymond and Ruth Perelman Jewish Day SchoolThe National Constitution CenterThe Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia
According to Janice Price, President and CEO of the Kimmel Center, Sidney Kimmel has played a pivotal role in the creation of the center. Mr. Kimmel did more than provide the lead gift of $35 million. “His gift came at a time when the project needed believers. He brought his aesthetic vision to the design. Mr. Kimmel also brought a commitment to making the Center a place for all the people of Philadelphia, his native city,” she comments. “Today, that vision has been realized beyond our wildest dreams,” says Ms. Price. The Kimmel Center has open, accessible, beautiful public spaces. It offers select performances that are free to the entire community. And a specific gift has been designated to give school children access to free performances and to educate young people and expose them to the arts, no matter what their background. Indeed, the Kimmel Center has one of the most diverse audiences of performing arts centers in the United States. The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts has earned praise for its diversity and public commitment. “One of our greatest achievements is seeing how the community has embraced the Kimmel Center,” says Ms. Price. “When you see people attending free performances in Commonwealth Plaza or visiting the Merck Arts Education Center or just looking up admiringly at the 150-foot vaulted glass ceiling because they are visiting The Kimmel Center for the first time, it's thrilling.” The Kimmel Center is home to many of Philadelphia's finest performing arts companies. In addition to the Philadelphia Orchestra, the other resident companies include Peter Nero and the Philly POPS®, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Philadanco, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and American Theater Arts for Youth. Excitement at the Kimmel Center also comes from the list of star performers who bring their talents to Philadelphia, such as jazz great Dave Brubeck, acclaimed classical pianist Peter Serkin and legendary French mime master Marcel Marceau. The Center's commitment to education has also made it an outstanding cultural resource in Philadelphia. For example, premier jazz musician Branford Marsalis recently gave a free concert for local school children, who studied the history of jazz and jazz musicians in their classrooms as part of their “homework” to prepare for the event. "Thanks in part to Sidney Kimmel's generosity, I can say to every citizen of Philadelphia, this is your performing arts center," says Ms. Price. Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, San DiegoThe Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in San Diego, founded in 1996 thanks to a generous gift from the Foundation, seeks new cures for cancer by using laboratory research to understand how cancer cells differ from normal cells in the body. SKCC's mission is also to use that information to develop better means of cancer diagnosis and prevention as well as to find more effective, less toxic forms of cancer treatment by targeting the cancer cell and its blood supply through molecular and immunological therapies. In 2001 Mr. Kimmel also lent his support to SKCC's strategic plan, "Road to the Cure." This plan provided for expanding the impact of the cancer center through recruiting new faculty and purchasing new instruments to establish key laboratories in genomics and proteomics (the study of genes and proteins and their interactions within an organism) and in imaging. "No individual or event has had a more enduring or positive impact on our cancer center than the philanthropy of Sidney Kimmel. His naming gift provided a five-year program of expansion that solidified the emerging research coming out of this new cancer research institute. He later provided additional funds to procure the land for SKCC's campus bringing his total gift to $22,000,000," stated Albert C. Deisseroth, M.D., Ph.D., Director and CEO of SKCC. Raymond and Ruth Perelman Jewish Day SchoolThe Raymond and Ruth Perelman Jewish Day School, a Solomon Schechter school, is affiliated with the Conservative movement of Judaism. Serving more than 750 children in grades K-8, the school has four campuses in the greater Philadelphia area. In a warm, child-centered environment, boys and girls pursue both secular and Judaic studies. “During these very difficult times, Sidney Kimmel's gift of $20 million is an extraordinary affirmation of who we are and what our school stands for. It will ensure the financial future of the school and enable it to carry out its mission of providing quality general and Judaic studies to the broadest socioeconomic spectrum of students,” states Susan Marks, Director of Development. The Sidney Kimmel Foundation's anchor gift will allow the Perelman Jewish Day School to grow and to help provide a Jewish education to any student who desires one. It will also support the school's dual mission of teaching values that have served the Jewish people for thousands of years and of furthering academic excellence. The National Constitution CenterThe National Constitution Center, the only museum in the world dedicated to honoring and explaining the U.S. Constitution, will open to the public on July 4, 2003. Located on Philadelphia's Independence Mall in Independence National Historic Park, the center is designed to be both a revolutionary new museum and an education outreach center. Thanks in part to the Foundation's $5,000,000 gift, the NCC will offer something for everyone - from the serious scholar to the casual historian. Pei Cobb Freed & Partners designed the building, and Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the NCC's visitor experiences and exhibition hall. “Wanting to give back to the city where he grew up, Sidney Kimmel has given us a gift that makes the theater possible and will provide a dramatic introduction to the exhibits that follow,” says Suzanne Seiter, Vice President for Development. The signature piece of the visitor experience is the 350-seat Kimmel Theater, where “Freedom Rising,” combining a live actor and multi-media elements, tells the story of the Constitution, from its inception to its vitality in the 21st century. Ten cameras will project onto a 360-degree screen in the theater, which soars upward. In an emotionally expressive presentation, viewers will receive an important message: The Constitution is about you--and it's alive. |
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