By Stephen Silver
In his eight years as mayor of Philadelphia and eight more as governor of Pennsylvania, Edward G. Rendell was often associated with his advocacy of the city’s sports teams, even appearing for years on the Eagles’ postgame show while serving as governor.
But Rendell’s legacy as mayor is also reflected in his support for the arts. As mayor in the 1990s, he was instrumental in the creation of the Kimmel Center and the Avenue of the Arts. For those reasons and more, Rendell was honored on May 30 at the third annual Great Stages Gala by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts Philly.
Rendell, elected in 1991, was the first and only Jewish mayor of Philadelphia. He was elected governor in 2002, becoming the second Jewish governor of the state; Josh Shapiro is the third.
The Great Stages Gala “celebrates the great venues, the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts Philly, along the Avenue of the Arts,” Jeremy Rothman, the chief programming officer with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts, told the Jewish Exponent in an interview. While the Great Stages Gala was held for the first time in 2023, it’s something of a successor to the Academy of Music Ball and the Kimmel Center’s gala.
“We are paying tribute to the founders and the icons that brought these buildings to life, from their inception,” Rothman said. “The Avenue of the Arts was the brainchild of then-mayor Ed Rendell. He was able to bring this vision to life, to have this building constructed.”
“Under his guidance, the Avenue of the Arts flourished, bringing jobs, fostering development, and rejuvenating residential life in Philadelphia — a testament to his unwavering belief in the power of the arts as a driver of change,” Ensemble Arts and the orchestra said in their statement announcing the honor. “He continued to support Philadelphia arts and culture during his eight years as governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Also honored was PHILADANCO! founder Joan Myers Brown, who remains with the organization, and is “on that Mount Rushmore of the Kimmel Center,” Rothman said.
On May 30, the evening started at the Academy of Music with a VIP reception, followed by a ceremony to honor the awardees, including performances by musicians of the orchestra, PHILADANCO and “special guests,” Rothman said. A procession to the Kimmel Center building followed, including performances in the plaza and Marian Anderson Hall, featuring a “great tapestry of artists,” Rothman said.
Ensemble Arts Philly is a brand name, introduced in early 2024, for the entertainment offerings, including theater, comedy, jazz, dance and more, at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the Academy of Music and the Miller Theater. The overall organization is called The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts Philly.
Rothman, who has worked for the organization since 2008, helped to organize and participated in the orchestra’s visit to Israel in 2018, calling it “a very special welcome for the orchestra in Israel.”
At a local performance shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s chief, Matías Tarnopolsky, recalled the visit and declared, “We stand today with the people of Israel.”
The 81-year-old former mayor, who announced in 2018 that he has Parkinson’s disease, has been less often in the public eye of late, although he did appear last fall in one of the dueling ads, cut by Jewish groups on opposite sides of the presidential race, that was filmed at Hymie’s Deli.
“When I learned the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts wanted to honor me, I was reluctant to accept because I was at best the catalyst who helped, along with many others, in bringing about this wonderful performing arts center [the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts],” Rendell said in a statement to the Exponent.
“No great achievement is the work of one person alone, and besides, if we were going to honor someone else for making the Kimmel Center a reality, Midge Rendell and Bill Rouse are more worthy of the award. In truth, the Kimmel Center was truly a great civic achievement with more than 8,000 individual donor contributors and many people in our community who compromised their long-held views to reach a consensus.”
Stephen Silver is a Broomall-based freelance writer.