THE KENNEDY CENTER IN WASHINGTON, D.C. CELEBRATES ITS 50th YEAR, ALBEIT BELATEDLY© - Part 1 of a 2-part Blog article

 

2021 marked the 50th year of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., but the celebration was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID pandemic.

Initially, the idea for a "national cultural center" dates back to 1933 when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt discussed ideas for the Emergency Relief and Civil Works Administration to create employment for unemployed actors during the Great Depression.  Congress held hearings in 1935 on plans to establish a Cabinet level Department of Science, Art and Literature, and to build a monumental theater and arts building on Capitol Hill near the Supreme Court building, but nothing materialized for more than 15 years thereafter.

Finally, in 1950, the idea for a national theater resurfaced when US Congressman Arthur Lewis Klein of New York introduced a bill to authorize funds to plan and build a cultural center. The bill included provisions that the center would prohibit any discrimination of cast or audience.

In 1955, the Stanford Research Institute was commissioned to select a site and to provide design suggestions for the center.   Between 1955 to 1958, Congress debated the idea amid much controversy, particularly about the location;  however, ultimately a bill was finally passed in Congress in the summer of 1958, and on September 4,  1958 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the National Cultural Center Act which provided momentum for the project -- marking the first time in history that the US Federal Government assisted in financing a structure dedicated to the performing arts.

From that point in time, the process moved forward.  The first step in the creation of the Kennedy Center was its authorization by the 1958 National Cultural Center Act of Congress, which requires that its programming be sustained through private funds.  Consequently, the Center's financial support has, and continues to, come  from partnerships with both the public and private sectors.

On December 2, 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson initiated the groundbreaking ceremony of the new National Cultural Center, which had been renamed for President John F. Kennedy, a strong advocate for the arts prior to his assassination in November of 1963. 

The building was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone.  The preliminary l architectural concept was curved, but was ultimately not used.  The building immediately drew criticism about its location along the Potomac River, and also for cosmetic reasons.  Conversely, at the time time, the Kennedy Center drew high praise for its acoustics, which were designed along with the auditoriums, by Cyrus M. Harris.  A major concern affecting the interior design and acoustics is that a significant number of aircraft fly along the Potomac River and over the Kennedy Center, as they take off and land at the nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and also helicopter traffic overhead.  To address and eliminate the noise factor, the Center was designed as a box within a box, which has given each auditorium an extra insulating outer shell.

The total cost of construction was $70 million. Congress allocated $43 million for construction costs, including $23 million as an outright grant and the other $20 million in bonds.   Donations also comprised a significant portion of funding, including $5 million from the Ford Foundation, and approximately $500,000 from the Kennedy family.  Other major donors included J. Willard Marriott, Marjorie Merriweather Post, and John D. Rockefeller III, as well as many corporate donors. Foreign countries also provided gifts to the Kennedy Center, including a gift from the Italian government of 3,700 tons of Carrara marble from Italy worth $1.5 million in 1971, (the equivalent of $10,5 million in 2022), was used in the construction of the building.

The first performance was September 5, 1971, with 2,200 members of the general public in attendance to see a premiere of Leinard Bernstein's "Mass in the Opera House" in the Opera House".  

The Center's official opening took place on the date of its dedication, September 8, 1971, with a formal gala and a performance of the Bernstein "Mass", attended by Rose Kennedy, Senator Edward Kennedy, and other members of the Kennedy family.

In 2013, after the Kennedy Center required expansion, a competition was held, at which time architect Steven Holl was selected to design the project called "The REACH", which project commenced thereafter. over the next six years

in 2019, the campus of the Kennedy Performing Arts Center grew 4.6 acres with the opening of its new REACH area on September 7th.   REACH is the Center’s first expansion since premiering in 1971.  Designed by Steven Holl Architects, the $250- million project roughly doubled the Kennedy Center’s outdoor space, bolstered its public areas by 20%, and added 72,000 square feet of interior space across the three pavilions near the Potomac River.   For more information about REACH, read  Part 2 of this Travelblog article, published in January, 2023.

Today, the Kennedy Center consists of several performing arts venues, ranging in size and utilized for specific purposes.  There are three main theatres -- the Concert Hall, the Opera House and the Eisenhower Theatre -- which allow for seating ranging from approximately 1,100 to 2,500 attendees.  Additionally, there are five smaller venues each seating less than 500 attendees, which have been adapted for use by artists-in-residence and for video screenings, ongoing performances, educational programs, and the Kennedy Center Jazz Club.

CBS Sunday Morning extended belated birthday wishes in a segment which aired on Christmas morning, December 25, 2022.  

The tribute in that segment says it all, and serves as the focus of our December 2022 Blog article herein.  

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Primary Sources:  Meersman, Roger (1980). "The Kennedy Center: From Dream to Reality". Records of the Columbia Historical Society;  dc.curbed.com;  kennedy-center.org)

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