are held to be the highlight event in the cultural life of the United States. The idea was the brainchild of (who remains involved), and he and his partner, the late , put together the first event, launching it in 1978. Since then, the Awards have been presented annually in Washington DC at the Kennedy Center, where it follows an established pattern: Early in the year a select number of well-known performers and past recipients of the awards suggest names of those who have not been honored before to the Board of Trustees of the John F.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The names, five in all, must belong to people who, in the opinion of the Board, should be recognized for their contributions to the culture of the American people over a lifetime of excellence in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures or television. A selection is made, each one representative of a branch of the arts, and is announced by the committee around the middle of the year, and soon hundreds of much-sought-after invitations will be mailed out.
And, because this is a fund-raising occasion, tickets are available to be purchased. At the beginning of December each year makes for a memorable weekend, and some of it gets to be seen by the public in the televised recording, usually aired just after Christmas. The last event was aired on 26 December 2006 by CBS.
The annual feel-good event is completely non-partisan and non-political, and hopes are always that the current situation will allow the President to attend. People arrive from all over the world, and the activities begin on the first day (Saturday) with lunch at the Kennedy Center, a chance for old friends to meet, and a welcoming speech by the President of the Board of Trustees. The afternoon is time to rest and prepare for the evening reception and dinner at the State Department, presided over by the Secretary of State, where the year's Honorees are introduced, with commentary by notable friends.
On the next day, Sunday, a few leisurely cocktail parties are held around town, rest, and a sprucing up for the early evening White House reception where the honorees will be introduced in the East Room by the President of the United States, who will then hang a specially designed ribboned award around their necks. Notable is the fact that at no time is the recipient permitted to speak, difficult for their usually expressive personalities. Everyone is then bussed to the nearby Kennedy Center, ready for the show to begin.
The Honorees sit in a row at the front of the , a few seats away from the President and the First Family. The show consists of carefully selected events from the recipients' lives, presented documentary style in film and live onstage, the idea being to surprise them with what they are about to see. Afterwards, a late supper dance in the theatre's Grand Foyer, ending finally around dawn, and farewells until next year.
Marian Anderson, Fred Astaire, George Balanchine, Richard Rodgers and Arthur Rubinstein 1979 — Aaron Copland, Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Fonda, Martha Graham and Tennessee Williams 1980 — Leonard Bernstein, James Cagney, Agnes de Mille, Lynn Fontanne and Leontyne Price 1981 — Count Basie, Cary Grant, Helen Hayes, Jerome Robbins and Rudolf Serkin 1982 — George Abbott, Lillian Gish, Benny Goodman, Gene Kelly and Eugene Ormandy 1983 — Katherine Dunham, Elia Kazan, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart and Virgil Thomson 1984 — Lena Horne, Danny Kaye, Gian Carlo Menotti, Arthur Miller and Isaac Stern 1985 — Merce Cunningham, Irene Dunne, Bob Hope, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe and Beverly Sills 1986 — Lucille Ball, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Yehudi Menuhin, Antony Tudor and Ray Charles 1987 — Perry Como, Bette Davis, Sammy Davis Jr, Nathan Milstein and Alwin Nikolais are held to be the highlight event in the cultural life of the United States.
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