Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Mission :

Kimmel Center Inc.'s mission is to operate a world-class performing arts center that engages and serves a broad audience from throughout the Greater Philadelphia region.

The principle means by which the Kimmel Center achieves it mission include:

- Operating and maintaining world-class performance venues including the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Academy of Music.
- Providing state-of-the-art venues and support facilities for its resident companies and a broad range of other regional performance groups at below costs.
- Presenting artistic programming of the highest quality that serves diverse audiences and brings world-renowned artists to Philadelphia.
- Providing vital arts education and community programming to serve the interests of a broad and diverse audience.

History :

Kimmel Center, Inc. began to take shape in 1996 when two projects came together: The Philadelphia Orchestra's ongoing plan to build a new home for itself, and a plan of then-Mayor Edward G. Rendell to provide a much-needed venue for some of Philadelphia's most prominent performing arts companies and for touring presentations. With the generous consent of the Orchestra, which had acquired a property at Broad and Spruce Streets, the two plans were merged under the supervision and management of a new organization, the Regional Performing Arts Center (RPAC).Today, Kimmel Center, Inc. incorporates public amenities and two major venues: The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts -- Verizon Hall, a 2,500-seat concert hall and Perelman Theater, a 650-seat recital theater; and a renovated and upgraded Academy of Music (2,900 seats), which is owned by The Philadelphia Orchestra and operated by Kimmel Center, Inc.