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Fostering New Works, Celebrating Partnerships

“The life of the arts is far from an interruption, a distraction, in the life of a nation, is close to the center of a nation’s purpose—and is a test of the quality of a nations’ civilization.”

—John F. Kennedy

The Cartography Project

Created as a Kennedy Center curatorial music program and one of the eight channels of its Social Impact work, The Cartography Project is a multi-year commissioning project engaging artists from around the nation to respond to extrajudicial killings that have galvanized the country. Comprising eight works, the commissions will create a musical map of these incidents and premiere during the 50th season. The National Symphony Orchestra commissioned Jessica Mays, Nathaniel Heyder, and Derek Douglas Carter to create four chamber works. Washington National Opera worked with composer/librettist teams B.E. Boykin and Brittny Ray Crowell, Jasmine Barnes and Joshua Banbury, Liz Gre and Junauda Petrus-Nash, and Jens Ibsen and Yasmina Ibsen to create short vocal works. Additionally, newly appointed Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon, in collaboration with Kennedy Center Vice President and Artistic Director of Social Impact Marc Bamuthi Joseph, created an overarching work centering the concept of “Black Dignity” that underlies the project.

With artists at our core we invest in and awaken new commissions, new voices.

New Play Commissions

Fifty years ago, Rogers Stevens asked his colleague Michael Kanin, the Academy Award®-winning screenwriter, to help launch a program for student playwrights in higher education. The Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards program, now with seventeen annual awards for undergraduate and graduate playwrights, has become an essential component of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. In this anniversary year, the Kennedy Center has commissioned plays by distinguished alumni of the KCACTF Michael Kanin Playwriting Award: Ike Holter, Hansol Jung with composer/lyricist Brian Quijada, Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok, Molly Smith Metzler, and Marco Ramirez.

New Plays graphic headline

New Play Commissions

Fifty years ago, Rogers Stevens asked his colleague Michael Kanin, the Academy Award®-winning screenwriter, to help launch a program for student playwrights in higher education. The Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards program, now with seventeen annual awards for undergraduate and graduate playwrights, has become an essential component of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. In this anniversary year, the Kennedy Center has commissioned plays by distinguished alumni of the KCACTF Michael Kanin Playwriting Award: Ike Holter, Hansol Jung with composer/lyricist Brian Quijada, Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok, Molly Smith Metzler, and Marco Ramirez.

Alvin Ailey and Ballet Dancers performing

Celebrating Longstanding Relationships

Sharing a longstanding history of performing annually on the Center’s stages, world-renowned dance and ballet companies Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, and New York City Ballet join in the celebration of the 50th Anniversary. From their first appearance at the Center’s opening in Leonard Bernstein’s MASS featuring new choreography by Alvin Ailey, the Ailey company has been dedicated to commissioning new work to provide a global platform for diverse voices and a range of dance makers. For their 2021–2022 engagements, NYCB and ABT celebrate their rich relationships with the Center through two programs each—one presenting a full-evening production looking back at historical classics connected to the Center’s past, and another looking to the future of each company and the art form.

Sponsors

Thank you to the following Sponsors

David M. Rubenstein
Cornerstone of the Reach

Thank you to our sponsors for their generous support of programming in our 50th anniversary season.

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