Mann Center for the Performing Arts

The Mann Center for the Performing Arts presents a diverse range of programming in a beautiful park setting. The organization was awarded Center support for 2014's Philadelphia Freedom Festival, inspired by 19th-century African American civil rights pioneer Octavius Catto, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act's passage. The project's centerpiece was the world premiere of a 20-minute work by noted composer and Pew Fellow Uri Caine. In 2015, the Mann received Center support for a multidisciplinary interpretation of Igor Stravinsky's composition for the 1910 ballet The Firebird, featuring The Philadelphia Orchestra, Grammy Award-winning South African vocal ensemble Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and larger-than-life puppets by Janni Younge of South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company. A 2018 Center grant has supported the Mann’s co-commissioning and presentation of an evening-length work from the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company exploring the relationship between the individual and the larger community and bringing 100 professional and local amateur performers to the Mann’s outdoor stage. In 2021, the Mann received a Re:imagining Recovery grant to upgrade its 45-year-old heating, ventilation, and air filtration systems—in its underground backstage area and on the main pavilion stage—to allow the Fairmount Park amphitheater to safely expand the scope of its artistic programming.