John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
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The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (or Kennedy Center), which is located beside the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., opened in 1971. It represents a unique public/private partnership, since it is both the nation's living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and a major center for the performing arts which includes educational and outreach initiatives, almost entirely paid for through ticket sales and gifts from individuals, corporations, and private foundations.
Designed by architect Edward Durrell Stone, it was built by Philadelphia contractor John McShain and is administered by a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution. It receives Federal funding each year to pay for the maintenance and operation of the building as a federal facility under the control of the National Park Service.
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[edit] History
The idea for the center dates to 1958, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the National Cultural Center Act. This was the first time in history that the United States federal government backed and helped finance a structure dedicated to the performing arts. In 1961, Roger L. Stevens was asked by President Kennedy to help develop the National Cultural Center, which was renamed as the Kennedy Center in 1964.[1] Kennedy sought to bring culture to the nation's capital.[2]
The total cost of construction was $70 million.[1] Congress allocated $43 million for construction costs, including $23 million as an outright grant and the other $20 million in bonds.[2] Funding was also provided through donations, including approximately $500,000 from the Kennedy family.[3] Other major donors included J. Willard Marriott, Marjorie Merriweather Post, John D. Rockefeller 3rd, and Robert W. Woodruff, as well as many corporate donors.[3] Gifts were also provided to the Kennedy Center from governments of numerous other countries, including 3,700 tons of Carrara marble from Italy (worth $1.5 million) which was used in the building's construction.[4]
The first performance was on September 5, 1971, with 2,200 members of the general public in attendance to see a premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.[1] The Kennedy Center officially opened on September 8, 1971, with formal gala and premiere performance of Leonard Bernstein's Mass in the Opera House.[5] The Concert Hall was inaugurated on September 9, 1971, in a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antal Dorati.[5] On Friday, September 10, 1971, Alberto Ginastera's opera, Beatrix Cenci debuted at the Kennedy Center's Opera House.
[edit] Architecture
The Kennedy Center was designed by architect Edward Durrell Stone.[6] Overall, the building is 100 feet high, 630 feet long, and 300 feet wide. The Kennedy Center features a 600 foot-long, 60-foot-high grand foyer, with 18 massive crystal chandeliers and red carpeting. The Hall of States and the Hall of Nations are both 250-foot long, 60-foot high corridors. The building has drawn criticism about its location, not near the Washington Metro, as well as for its scale and form.[6] Though, it also has drawn praise for its acoustics, and its terrace overlooking the Potomac River.[6]
The three main theaters at the Kennedy Center are the Opera House, Concert Hall, and the Eisenhower Theater.
[edit] Concert Hall
The Concert Hall, on the south side, seats 2,442. When it opened in 1971, the Concert Hall has a seating arrangement, similar to that used in many European halls such as Musikverein in Vienna.[5] The Concert Hall was renovated in 1997, and currently is state-of-the-art, with a high-tech acoustical canopy, and accessible locations on every level, and new seating sections (onstage boxes, chorister seats, and parterre seats). The Hadelands crystal chandeliers, a gift from Norway, were repositioned to provide a clearer view.[4] Behind the stage the 4,144-pipe organ is located. This was a gift from the Filene Foundation of Boston. The Concert Hall is the largest performance space in the Kennedy Center and is the home of the National Symphony Orchestra.
[edit] Opera House
The Opera House, in the middle, has 2,300 seats. Its interior features include much red velvet, a distinctive red and gold silk curtain, which was a gift from Japan.[4] The Opera House also features a Lobmeyr crystal chandelier, which was gift from Austria.[4] It is the major opera, ballet, and large-scale musical venue of the Center, and was closed for the 2003/2004 season for extensive renovations which provided a revised seating arrangement at the orchestra level plus re-designed entrances to this level. It is the home of the Washington National Opera and the annual Kennedy Center Honors.
[edit] Eisenhower Theater
The Eisenhower Theater,on the north side, seats 1,100 and is named for President Dwight Eisenhower. It primarily hosts plays and musicals, smaller-scale operas, ballet and contemporary dance. The theater contains an orchestra pit for 40 musicians that is convertible to a forestage or additional seating space. The walls are of East Indian laurel wood. The red and black stage curtain of hand-woven wool was a gift from Canada.[4]
[edit] Other performance venues
Other performance venues in the Center include:
- The Family Theater, with 324 seats, was opened on 9th December 2005. It replaces what was once the American Film Institute Film Theater located off the Hall of States. The new Family Theater provides a home for world-class family theater performances for the nation's youth and continues the Kennedy Center's $125 million commitment to performing arts education for adults and children alike. Designed by the architectural firm Richter Cornbrooks Gribble, Inc. of Baltimore, the new theater incorporates the most modern theatrical innovations available, including: premium audio technologies; a computerized rigging system; and a digital video projection system.
- The Terrace Theater, with 513 seats, was constructed on the Roof Terrace level in the late 1970s as a Bicentennial gift from the people of Japan to the United States. It is used for intimate performances of chamber music, ballet and contemporary dance, and theater.
- The Theater Lab, with 399 seats plus cabaret-style tables for the current 18-year long run of the whodunit, Shear Madness.
- The Millennium Stage. Part of the concept of "Performing Arts for Everyone" launched by then-Director James Johnson in the winter of 1997, the Millennium Stage provides free performances every evening at 6:00pm on two specially created stages at either end of the Grand Foyer. A broad range of art forms are featured on the Millennium Stage. These include performing artists and groups from all 50 states and an Artist-in-Residence program featuring artists performing several evenings in a month.
- The KC Jazz Club. On March 12, 2003 the space formerly known as the Education Resource Center was officially designated the Terrace Gallery. It is now home to the Kennedy Center Jazz Club.
Performing Arts for Everyone was designed to introduce the Kennedy Center and its programs to a far wider audience than ever before by providing a performance open to the public and free of charge 365 days a year. In addition, Performing Arts for Everyone initiatives include low- and no-cost tickets available to performances on every stage of the Kennedy Center, and several outreach programs designed to increase access to Kennedy Center tickets and performances.
[edit] Events
Since 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors have been awarded annually by the Center's Board of Trustees. The Center has awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor since 1998.
The Kennedy Center houses a number of groups and institutions, including:
- National Symphony Orchestra
- Washington National Opera
- Washington Ballet
- Washington Performing Arts Society, WPAS
- American College Theater Festival
[edit] Management
Michael Kaiser, who came to the Center from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London with a reputation for major fundraising, is the current President. Earlier he headed the American Ballet Theatre. He oversees all the artistic activities at the Kennedy Center, has increased the Center’s already broad educational efforts, established cross-disciplinary programming with opera, symphony and dance, established an Institute for Arts Management, created unprecedented theater festivals celebrating the works of Stephen Sondheim and Tennessee Williams, and arranged for continuing visits by Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater Opera, Ballet, and Orchestra, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Robertson, Nan. "At Last, the Performances Begin", The New York Times, September 6, 1971.
- ^ a b Lydon, Christopher. "Kennedy Arts Center Primps for Opening and Hopes to Make Profit", The New York Times, September 6, 1971.
- ^ a b Curtis, Charlotte. "Clamor Continues for Seats at Kennedy Center Opening", The New York Times, September 3, 1971.
- ^ a b c d e "$3-Million in Gifts Adorn Center", The New York Times, September 6, 1971.
- ^ a b c Schonberg, Harold C.. "Kennedy Hall Gets Acoustics Workout", The New York Times, September 2, 1971.
- ^ a b c Weeks, Christopher (1994). AIA Guide to the Architecture of Washington, D.C., Third Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press.
[edit] Further reading
- Becker, Ralph E., Miracle on the Potomac: the Kennedy Center From the Beginning, Silver Spring, Maryland: Bartleby Press, 1990
- Gill, Brendan, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1981
- Morris, Barbara Bladen, The Kennedy Center: An Insider's Guide to Washington's Liveliest Memorial, McLean, Virginia: EPM Publications, 1994
