MANN HISTORY

On January 29, 1975, a model of the new Robin Hood Dell West was unveiled in the Grand Court at John Wanamaker’s department store in downtown Philadelphia. Mayor Frank Rizzo gestures to Frederic Mann (in dark glasses, on right) while Wanamaker’s president John Harrison (on left) and members of the public look on. Mann Center for the Performing Arts Archives. The Robin Hood Dell West’s inaugural concert on June 14, 1976: Eugene Ormandy conducting The Philadelphia Orchestra. Photo by Joseph McLaughlin for The Philadelphia Bulletin. Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries. Excavation of the site for the new Robin Hood Dell West in March 1975. The Catholic Total Abstinence Fountain is in the immediate background, with Memorial Hall beyond that and the Philadelphia skyline in the distance. Evening Bulletin Photograph Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries.

One of the Philadelphia region’s leading cultural and civic assets, the Mann Center for the Performing Arts has presented world-class performing artists of diverse musical genres in Fairmount Park for decades. The original Dell, an open-air facility constructed in 1930, was a beloved venue but beset by problems, including frequent rainouts and distracting traffic noise from the nearby Schuylkill Expressway, which opened in 1958. The new venue addressed these issues and provided Philadelphians with a modern, first-class facility to enjoy music under the stars.

Built in 1976 as Philadelphia and the nation were preparing to celebrate the United States Bicentennial, this new venue with an approximate capacity of about 14,000 became the largest covered music and arts venue in Philadelphia. Just three years later, the Robin Hood Dell West was renamed the Mann Music Center in Fredric Mann’s honor, and subsequently renamed the Mann Center for the Performing Arts. The Mann has continued to host annual Philadelphia Orchestra concerts and serves more than 200,000 patrons annually through a diverse line-up of world-class artists, touring companies, and popular and contemporary musicians.

MISSION, VISION, AND VALUES

MISSION

The Mann Center for the Performing Arts – situated in historic Fairmount Park with breathtaking views of Philadelphia’s skyline – serves as one of the nation’s premier non-profit and intercultural outdoor performing arts organizations by:

• Creating, presenting, promoting, convening, and collaborating on a broad spectrum of high-quality, compelling, welcoming, and inspiring entertainment experiences in its acclaimed multi-stage campus; • Providing leadership in arts education through innovative and high-impact, collaborative educational activities for young people throughout the Philadelphia region; • Fulfilling the expectations of 21st-century audiences by embracing multimedia platforms; • Being a deeply valued civic asset to everyone in the Philadelphia region, an active community stakeholder in West Philadelphia and our immediate neighborhoods, and a responsible steward of our natural campus and resources. • Making its facilities available as a public service to other non-profit organizations.