SPRING/SUMMER 2021
A special newsletter for our Mann family
JOIN US!
MESSAGE FROM YOUR PRESIDENT We’re Almost There! As the beautiful Law, Prosperity, and Power statue proudly proclaims on our cover, we are almost out of the pandemic woods! This spring we have been able to host “pre-season” performances by Opera Philadelphia and the Philly POPS and to co-present with The Philadelphia Orchestra a special Hail to the Heroes: Concert of Gratitude for the region’s essential workers. We are delighted that our outdoor facility is giving both artists and audiences a much-needed return to in-person performances. Meanwhile, The Mann’s intrepid staff, artists, and partners have adapted to continue serving our community. Our amazing Education & Community Engagement team has premiered new virtual programs to serve our Parkside neighborhood–from afterschool choir, dance, and drumming for young students to music industry career skills for high schoolers. Our board chair for Education & Community Engagement, Sharon Rankin, shares her own vivid insider’s impressions. For our own 2021 Mann “comeback” season, we are putting together a wonderful line-up! We are thrilled for our Gala to return on August 18 (details inside!) and to continue our season through the fall. We have turned our events rental program “inside out” and are in conversations with high schools, universities, nonprofits, and corporations so that our beautiful Fairmount Park campus can serve their needs while meeting COVID-19 regulations. Improvisation in music means creatively using the available resources at hand to make new music without preparing it in advance. We are giving a special shout-out in this issue to our superlative sponsors, who–along with our individual donors, patrons, and community supporters–continue to improvise with us in so many instances to keep the Mann’s music-making alive and vibrant during this challenging time. You are our own heroes! Looking forward to seeing you back at the Mann!
Catherine M. Cahill President & CEO
As of 5.25.21
SPOTLIGHT
Education & Community Engagement Keeps on Giving As a shy youngster growing up in Puerto Rico, Naomi Gonzalez found her voice in the violin she was given through a community music program. “I poured myself into it; it helped me be someone,” Gonzalez recalls. The violin earned her a scholarship to a college in Chicago where “I was one of only two brown girls,” Gonzalez continues. But the pivotal moment came when she saw the excitement on the faces of students she was giving lessons to in the city’s underserved South Side neighborhood. “You look like me!” they marveled. That moment inspired her decision to focus on music education, and for the past two years she has led the Mann’s Education & Community Engagement team on a mission to give personal, hands-on experience with music and dance to as many West Philadelphia school children as possible. Pandemic? No problem. Last fall, Gonzalez and her operations manager Alec Fertel launched the Mann’s first-ever after-school Motion & Music Academy (MMA) for 48 fourth through eighth graders, with partners including Global Leadership Academy, Mad Beatz Philly, Sister Cities Girlchoir, and
Naomi Gonzalez
Pennsylvania Ballet. Each child was equipped at home with the instruments and material they needed to successfully participate in choir, ballet, or drumming classes. Pivoting from hybrid to fully virtual, the program did not lose a single student. In fact, they gained 11 more. I am the students I am serving. One of those was young Damien Palmer, who lost his parents last fall
- NAOMI GONZALEZ
and moved in with his aunt and uncle, whose two children were enrolled in MMA. They asked if Damien could join the drumming program. “You should have seen the smile on his face when he got his drums and kit,” Gonzalez recalls. “And his attendance has been spotless. I know how making music can get us through trauma.” In January, the team launched the Music Industry Training Program (MITP) to introduce West Philadelphia 10th graders to skills and career paths within the industry, along with financial literacy. Through partnerships with Live Nation, DASH (Destined to Achieve Successful Heights), and the School District of Philadelphia, 23 students at Overbrook High School are learning from union stage experts, producers, and other industry professionals as well as educators. If the safest way to get Motion & Music Academy students the drums, ballet shoes, leotards and tights, media controllers, headphones, and more was to deliver to their homes, Gonzalez and Fertel did the ferrying. Driving to the city immediately after a snowstorm to get MITP kits to the school principal? They were on it. “If I had to ask for one person to help me, I’d want an Alec,” Gonzalez notes. “You have to be very organized with a strong work ethic. It’s not for the faint of heart.” Sharon Rankin, Board Chair of the Mann’s Education & Community Engagement Committee, has an inside view of their
talents. She and her husband Scott are experienced philanthropists who have started orphanages in Asia and Africa and teen leadership camps in the U.S. “Naomi is amazing,” Rankin says. “We were blown away by her passion and by everything the Mann is doing. I think they are leading the cultural establishment in helping underserved communities, not just continuing during the pandemic, but actually adding programs.” Rankin helped Gonzalez create a menu of opportunities to build support for these programs. “We like to give to faces,” she explained. “If someone buys a young girl a pair of ballet shoes for $25 so she can participate, that’s inspiring. And if you only have $10 to give, that can buy a set of drumsticks for a child. No amount is too little.” The Rankins helped to purchase the software that enables the programs to run virtually, and also some of the gear needed to enroll new MMA students. “Sharon has truly believed in the work from day one,” Gonzalez explains. “She’s an instrumental advocate and supporter on so many levels.” No less vocal an advocate is West Parkside Committee woman Kimberly Nelson, whose nine-year-old daughter Kennedy is an Motion & Music Academy choir member. “She loves it– she’s learning new songs and singing them in the shower,” Nelson explains. Kennedy has a speech impediment, “so this is another way for her to be independent, blending words together in songs. She’s grabbing it!” And even though she has never met the teachers in person, Kennedy knows all their names and texts them freely. “This is something kids don’t have right now,” Nelson points out. No one knows that better than Naomi Gonzalez. As she puts it, “I am the students I am serving.” Help support our work with Philadelphia students and families at manncenter.org/support. Our education programs qualify for your Education Improvement Tax Credits donation. Contact Christopher Rumer CRumer@MannCenter.org to learn more about support using corporate tax credits.
SUMMER 2021 NEWS FLASH!
Live performances at the Mann are BACK! We were delighted to welcome Opera Philadelphia audiences earlier this month for the company’s performances of The Drama of Tosca. And the Mann joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in co-presenting a special performance on May 15 for first responders, teachers, hospital workers, and other essential workers. The program included Valerie Coleman’s Seven O’Clock Shout, a new work written for, and premiered by, the Orchestra in 2020. More dates will be announced soon. Meanwhile, here is a sample of what else is in store, as of May 19. Check our Upcoming Events for the latest updates! Click here MAY 29 · The Philly POPS: Comcast NBCUniversal Presents Memorial Salute presented free in partnership with Wawa Welcome America, and distributed on the American Forces Network* JUNE 4 - SEPTEMBER 30 · Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK a free GPS-enabled sound and vision experience in Fairmount Park supported through PNC Arts Alive Initiative, will be free and open to the public. Click here JULY 22 · Tchaikovsky Spectacular with The Philadelphia Orchestra (with Fireworks)* JULY 23 · Pictures From An Exhibition: An Evening of Classics with The Philadelphia Orchestra* JULY 24 · Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story In Concert with The Philadelphia Orchestra* JULY 29 · Brothers Osborne**
AUGUST 7 · HoagieNation* AUGUST 22 · XPN Welcomes Wilco & Sleater-Kinney* AUGUST 26 · Opera Philadelphia: Amici e Rivali* with tenors Lawrence Brownlee, Michael Spyres SEPTEMBER 9 · Lord Huron** SEPTEMBER 21 · XPN Welcomes The Avett Brothers* SEPTEMBER 28 · Glass Animals** *TD Pavilion **Skyline Stage
Please note: Picnics are permitted at select concerts, check the MannCenter.org for details.
SAVE THE DATE: AUGUST 18, 2021 The Mann Center’s Annual Party in the Park is making its return on August 18, 2021!
This important event is not only our largest fundraiser. It’s also a chance for our Mann family to gather, listen to music under the stars, and enjoy the beauty and magic of this special place together. Our Executive Team is in touch with the City of Philadelphia to ensure that it’s the safest event possible. After a year of Zoom events and virtual concerts, we are excited to have live music at the Mann again, and to thank you in person for standing by us last year. We have much to celebrate!
The Mann Extends Sincere Gratitude to Our Sponsors Season Sponsors
Education Sponsors THE ALBERT GREENFIELD FOUNDATION • DELPHI PROJECT FOUNDATION
ABBOT DOWNING • DEVINE + PARTNERS • EY INDEPENDENCE FOUNDATION • NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS PENNSYLVANIA COUNCIL ON THE ARTS • PENNSYLVANIA PURSUE YOUR HAPPINESS PEPSI • PHILADELPHIA PARKS & RECREATION • THE PRESSER FOUNDATION
DOLFINGER-MCMAHON FOUNDATION • FRESH GROCER • GITLIN FAMILY FOUNDATION HAVERFORD TRUST • INDEPENDENCE BLUE CROSS • THE LENFEST FOUNDATION CHRISTIAN R. & MARY F. LINDBACK FOUNDATION • M&T BANK THE MUSICAL FUND SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA • PHILADELPHIA INSURANCE COMPANIES
TITO’S HANDMADE VODKA • USLI PECO • PNC ARTS ALIVE • TD BANK • TEMPLE UNIVERSITY • USLI • VULCAN • WELLSFARGO
Voices of Hope 2021
A Black History Month Celebration Pivoting online, The Mann’s 2021 Voices of Hope celebration honored a local health services advocate and introduced young students to educational performances from four Black artists across genres of global music. The Rev. Dr. Lorina Marshall-Blake, president of Independence Blue Cross Foundation, received the 2021 Innovation Award for her work and influence on behalf of the region’s health and wellness, particularly in communities of color. In addition to her work with the Independence Blue Cross Foundation, Dr. Marshall-Blake serves as a mentor in the Macy Undergraduate Leadership Fellows Program at Drexel’s College of Nursing and Health Professions and has been an advocate for providing health services to those who are uninsured or underinsured. The Mann Music Room: Learn online platform featured musicians Benu Ausar Philly (West African), Dr. J. Donald Dumpson (gospel), Eric Wortham II (jazz), and Chill Moody (hip hop). The Mann provided supplemental activity guides on the artists and their genres to help young students learn more about these musical styles. Visit MannCenter.org/MannMusicRoom/Learn
DID YOU KNOW? Our Sculptural Bounty
The expressive Law, Prosperity, and Power statue on our cover was made by the same artist who created the Abraham Lincoln statue inside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Daniel Chester French became the leading monumental American sculptor of the early 20th century, but was only 26 in 1876, when he was commissioned to create a sculpture to sit atop Philadelphia’s new second empire-style U.S. Post Office and Federal Building. Created in marble, the Law, Prosperity, and Power statue was inspired by French’s sojourn in Florence. Its allegorical theme was meant to idealize the role of government. When that building was demolished in the 1930s, the sculpture was saved and donated to the City of Philadelphia. It now resides on our Fairmount Park campus, atop a base designed by architect Paul Cret. Thirty years later, French and former student Edward C. Potter created the statue of General Ulysses S. Grant that sits at the intersection of Kelly and Fountain Green drives.