John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

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Kennedy Center (bank view)

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ( John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ; Kennedy Center for short ) is the largest cultural center in Washington, DC.It was posthumously named after John F. Kennedy , the 35th President of the United States .

history

Efforts had been made in the United States since the 1930s to establish a National Cultural Center in Washington, DC. It was not until 1950 that these plans became more concrete at the initiative of the US House of Representatives Arthur George Klein, and in 1958 the then US President Eisenhower signed the National Cultural Center Act , which gave the project federal funding. Edward Durell Stone was hired as the architect in 1959, and the cost of his design was estimated at 61 million US dollars. After his election as US President in 1961, John F. Kennedy took over the management of the project; his wife Jacqueline and the wife of former US President Eisenhower, Mamie Eisenhower , have been named honorary chairmen of the board of trustees .

Construction costs ended up being $ 70 million, of which Congress approved $ 43 million from public funds. The project received donations in the millions from well-known US companies and the Kennedy family (approx. 500,000 dollars). There were also donations in kind from abroad, for example Carrara marble from the Italian government. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963, the National Cultural Center project was renamed the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in his honor . The groundbreaking took place by Kennedy's successor Lyndon B. Johnson on December 2, 1964. Construction of the building did not begin until January 1967, after the building site in the Foggy Bottom district had to be cleared over several years. The opening took place on September 8, 1971 with the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass in honor of the late President Kennedy.

Building complex

The building complex houses a Concert Hall with 2,465 seats (seat of the National Symphony Orchestra ), the Opera House with 2,362 seats (seat of the Washington National Opera ) and the Eisenhower Theater with 1,100 seats. There are also other, smaller theaters, each with between 320 and 475 seats ( Terrace Theater , Theater Lab , Family Theater ) and a jazz club with 160 seats. In the foyer there is a bust of President Kennedy by the American sculptor Robert Berks (1922–2011) . The flags of the American states hang in the Hall of States ; in the Hall of Nations, the flags of every nation on earth with which the United States has diplomatic relations. In the attic there are several restaurants with access to the roof terraces, which are not only available to theater-goers. On the outside there are also two bronze reliefs by the sculptor Jürgen Weber (1928–2007) - both a gift from the Federal Republic of Germany for the opening of the Kennedy Center in 1971: opposite the main entrance in front of the Hall of States is the bronze relief created in 1968 the title America ; near the entrance to the Hall of Nations is the War and Peace sculpture .

Kennedy Center Honors

Since 1978, every year in December, the Kennedy Center Honors (English. Kennedy Center Honors) awarded to selected performing artists for their lifetime contributions to American culture. The festivities run over a weekend and include a festive lunch at the Kennedy Center, a reception and dinner at the United States Department of State , the presentation of the medals on ribbon at the White House by the US President, and an evening gala at the Kennedy Center Opera House a.

In 2019, the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts awarded the actor Christoph Waltz , the conductor Franz Welser-Möst , the Festival President Helga Rabl-Stadler and the composer Iván Eröd a gold medal. Previous winners of the medal are the actor Jeremy Irons , the film director Pedro Almodóvar , the opera singer Plácido Domingo and the musician Quincy Jones .

Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

Since 1998, the Kennedy Center has awarded the Mark Twain Prize annually to one awardee who has made a contribution to American humor.

literature

  • Ralph E. Becker: Miracle on the Potomac: the Kennedy Center From the Beginning . Bartleby Press, Silver Spring, Maryland 1990, ISBN 0-910155-15-1 .
  • Brendan Gill : John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts . Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York 1981, ISBN 0-8109-1206-6 .
  • Barbara Bladen Morris: The Kennedy Center: An Insider's Guide to Washington's Liveliest Memorial . EPM Publications, McLean, Virginia 1994, ISBN 0-939009-79-X .

Web links

Commons : John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kennedy Center - Sculptures by Jürgen Weber , goethe.de, accessed: May 21, 2014
  2. ^ US cultural medal for Waltz, Eröd, Welser-Möst and Rabl-Stadler. Retrieved June 20, 2019 .
  3. ↑ US honor for Waltz, Welser-Möst, Rabl-Stadler and Eröd. Retrieved June 22, 2019 .

Coordinates: 38 ° 53 ′ 45 "  N , 77 ° 3 ′ 20"  W.