by Taylor Grant | Musical America

On June 15 the Highmark Mann Center, Philadelphia’s outdoor arts center in Fairmount Park, relaunched 50 years and one day after the original venue, then known as Robin Hood Dell West, opened. The new renovations, carried out over the past few years, are the result of a $70 million campaign ($68.6 million is in hand). The money raised will also support operations, endowment, and cash reserves as well as artistic and 50th-anniversary projects.

“This new space was designed to transport us from our everyday lives into a magical, musical, immersive experience that begins with the moment you arrive,” said Highmark Mann President and CEO Catherine M. Cahill at Monday’s ribbon cutting.

The renovations, designed by the EwingCole architectural firm, are immediately apparent. There is a substantial new gateway entrance structure and the redesigned plaza is three times as big as the original one. There are new plantings that promise a sylvan atmosphere, and a welcome center and several ancillary structures are faced in wood and stone. But the key addition—the Satell Centennial Wall East on the side of TD Pavilion, a spectacular digital screen that measures 195 ft. on its longest side—suggests Times Square more than an urban park.

Mann’s leaders promise the screen won’t be used for advertising. “It’s purely artistic content, which is super exciting,” said Brad Baer, digital experience/innovation adviser for the screen. At Monday’s event the display focused on the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Fairmount Park, and regular fare will include sequences on culture, history, and the like.

Less visible but no less important, the Mann now has a new sound system that can be tailored to each performance. “If there’s a country artist, you’re going to want a slightly different response than if you are hearing R&B or classical,” said Highmark Mann VP and General Manager Evan Rogers. While initially intended as the summer home for the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Mann’s offerings today skew far more toward pop music. Only six of this summer’s 45 concerts involve the Philly O.

Other recent changes that preceded the latest updates include the Skyline Stage, a second major performance space with a standing capacity of 7,500 that opened in 2023, and redone dressing rooms and other backstage areas completed in 2024. Archival photographs and other memorabilia on display remind visiting performers of the Mann’s considerable artistic history.

The overarching goal is an ambitious effort at institution building. “With this transformation of this campus and celebrating the 50th anniversary,” Cahill told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “this is where we thought we could bring it all together and tell the history and the incredible legacy through all this technology.”

The relaunched organization aspires to expand its operations beyond just the summer months. “All of this building, the gardens, the infrastructure… send a different message that it’s not going away when the Highmark Mann closes down at the end of the summer,” Cahill says. Her goal: a reimagined organization that becomes a “premier destination,” one that inspires visitors.