Ed Rendell’s passionate plea: Philadelphia’s fight for greatness must outlive him

Speeches at an arts fundraiser might not be where you’d expect to find great substance, much less genuine emotion. But Friday night, Ed Rendell made it so.

Speaking from a wheelchair, stricken with Parkinson’s, the former governor and mayor showed he can still hold a room — in this case, the Academy of Music. He recounted the genesis of the Avenue of the Arts while weaving in a song of the city, talking about Philadelphia’s ills and how the fight for its future must outlive him.

It was a moment of a once-ubiquitous politician, now 81, clearly enjoying being back in front of a crowd. It was also poignant.

“I think looking at the actuarial tables, I won’t be around too much longer to participate in this movement,” he said, referring to the perpetual drive to solve the city’s problems.

Philadelphia has a lot to be proud of, he said. But, he told an audience holding its share of bigwigs:

“I’d like to say to you, right now I fear one thing in Philadelphia. Too many of our young people have decided that they don’t have any hope. And so they’re resorting to violence at record numbers and record intensity. We’ve got to give them something to feel hope about.”

The occasion of Rendell’s cris de coeur was this year’s Great Stages Gala. About 600 tickets were sold to the benefit, whose profits will go toward operational expenses of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts and restoration of the Academy of Music.

Rendell and former wife Judge Marjorie O. “Midge” Rendell were honored as stalwarts of arts and culture in Philadelphia, along with Philadanco founder Joan Myers Brown. The Philadelphia Orchestra did not perform at this year’s gala, though Philadanco did, and the event was studded with smaller ensembles.

Opera Philadelphia chief and countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and chorus serenaded briefly in the Kimmel plaza — he, in any case no shrinking violet, dressed as a giant flower perched high above the crowd.

Brown, 93, said she had received many honors — including a 2012 National Medal of Arts presented by President Obama — “but none is more rewarding than today, being appreciated in your own hometown for the work you have done in its community and knowing of the many lives your work has changed.”

Ticket prices for the evening — which culminated in a buffet dinner and dance party at the Kimmel Center — ranged from $750 per person to $50,000 for sponsorship packages. The event grossed $1.1 million, said a POEA spokesperson, who declined to specify what the net proceeds were after expenses.

Philanthropy has taken on greater urgency in the current funding environment. The Trump administration is pursuing the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities and Institute of Museum and Library Services — all bedrock funding sources in arts and culture for decades.

None of the half-dozen speakers Friday night mentioned Trump or the administration by name. None needed to.

“Let me say that at a time when the arts are facing increased threats to our freedom of expression and experiencing abrupt funding cuts, we need you now more than ever,” Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s music and artistic director, told the Academy of Music crowd. “We need your support. And we need you to keep speaking up, to speak louder than some other voices that we keep hearing.”

The audience applauded heartily.

Rendell spotlighted the leaders who helped to create the Avenue of the Arts as a tool for urban revitalization at a time when Philadelphia struggled with severe financial and image problems. The concept bubbled up through the imagination of others, but Rendell embraced it zealously upon becoming mayor in 1991.

Among those who worked more quietly was his then-wife.

“Midge was like the little angel sitting on Ed’s shoulder, always whispering arts and culture, arts and culture,” David L. Cohen, chief of staff for much of Rendell’s time as mayor, told the audience.

“Ed understood that arts and culture are what gives our city vibrancy,” Cohen said. “They are what make our city a destination to live and work. They are drivers of our economy.”

“All I did was have the good sense to recognize the great idea and try to turn it into reality,” Ed Rendell said.

The Avenue of the Arts added hundreds of millions of dollars in new and renovated facilities to South Broad Street, and building its signature bit of ambition, the Kimmel Center, was a “great civic achievement. We all should feel very proud of it,” said Rendell.

But Philadelphia’s civic health remains elusive, he suggested.

“I want to conclude by saying that it’s a fine honor,” said Rendell of the recognition. “But if you really want to honor me … do it by fighting for the city, by giving some of your energy and some of your resources and some of your hope to people who have very little. We can do this. This city has incredible natural assets. We can be a great city. We can build a beautiful city. We’re on our way, but we can’t let up.”