An Arts Center Opens at Ground Zero With Stars, Onstage and Off

Cynthia Erivo sang “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” The ballerina Tiler Peck moonwalked, on pointe shoes, to a rap by Tariq Trotter. The countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo performed both parts of a duet from Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” twirling from stage left to stage right with each character change.

After more than two decades of imagining, planning, debating, fund-raising, losing hope and fund-raising some more, the Perelman Performing Arts Center opened on Thursday night at the World Trade Center site, which buzzed with politicians, celebrities and benefactors whose contributions allowed the once-foundering project to be realized.

The first person to step onstage for a performance at the long-awaited arts institution was Amanda Gorman, the 25-year-old poet whose civic-minded work has become a centerpiece of major events since she recited a poem at President Biden’s inauguration.

“We ignite not in the light but in lack thereof,” Gorman said, in a poem that reflected not just on the Sept. 11 attacks but also to the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic. “For it is in loss that we learn to truly love. In this chaos we have discovered clarity. In our suffering we have found solidarity.”

New York’s civic leaders and arts administrators have spoken for two decades of the importance of building a haven of artistic creation on a site that had become synonymous with tragedy and death.

“Here, on this very site, where so much loss and devastation took place,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor who is chairman of the institution’s board, “the arts will bring a special sense of hope for the future.”

Various ideas for the space percolated and fizzled for years, until Ronald O. Perelman, the billionaire businessman whom the building is named after, jump-started the project with a $75 million donation. It was Mr. Bloomberg who brought the project to fruition, contributing the largest portion of money: $130 million.

Although it is Mr. Perelman’s name on the building, Mr. Bloomberg was at the center of much attention Thursday night, posing with benefactors and celebrities like Michael Douglas and Liev Schreiber on a red carpet at a cocktail hour before the performance, where guests sipped champagne and ate miniature cheeseburgers and pigs in blankets.

Onstage, Mr. Perelman acknowledged Mr. Bloomberg’s outsized role, as well as the unexpectedly steep cost to construct the building, designed by the architect Joshua Ramus.

“When this project started, the concept was about a $150 to $200 million cost; it ended up at about $500 million,” Mr. Perelman said. “And the shortfall was filled in almost entirely by our mayor.”

Ensconced in the marble-clad, cube-shaped building, which took on an amber glow with the setting sun, the gala’s main event featured a program that included the Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo alongside the Native American dancer Supaman; Tori Kelly singing with elementary school students from Staten Island, a brief stand-up set from Whoopi Goldberg, and to close out the night, several songs from James Taylor.

Many of the presenters were native New Yorkers who touched on their childhoods growing up in the city, including John Leguizamo, the actress Rosario Dawson and the Broadway performer Javier Muñoz. (The event had a couple of opening night technical glitches: Ms. Gorman’s poem disappeared briefly from her teleprompter, and Mr. Taylor commented that his earpiece was not working.)

The performing arts center opens to the public on Tuesday with a concert featuring performers from around the country and world who all consider New York their “artistic home,” including the multidisciplinary performer Laurie Anderson and the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon.

“There has been a lot of dedication and resilience in making sure this project was seen all the way through,” said Khady Kamara, the center’s executive director.

Bill Rauch, the center’s artistic director, said that because the people who died in the Sept. 11 attacks were from more than 90 countries, he views the institution as having a responsibility to be not just a local cultural center for Lower Manhattan but an international one.

“The goal isn’t just to have an audience,” said Mr. Muñoz, “but to have an audience that looks like New York.”