35th Annual Kennedy Center Honors
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The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced the selection of the individuals who will receive the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors. Recipients to be honored at the 35th annual national celebration of the arts are: bluesman Buddy Guy, actor Dustin Hoffman, television personality David Letterman, ballerina Natalia Makarova, and Led Zepplin.
Buddy Guy
Dustin Hoffman
David Letterman
Natalia Makarova
Led ZeppelinHonors News
In May 2013, the Kennedy Center announced revisions to the Kennedy Center Honors selection process. The revisions include the addition of an advisory committee comprised of artists, former Honorees, and Kennedy Center board members as well as expanded solicitation of recommendations from the general public. Please read below how you can submit a recommendation for the Kennedy Center Honors.
The Kennedy Center Honors provide recognition to living individuals who throughout their lifetimes have made significant contributions to American culture through the performing arts. The primary criterion is excellence, and artistic achievement in dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures, and television is considered.
About the Honors
Since its inception in 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors has redefined America's perception of its artistic legacy and reinvented the way this nation rewards its artists. The Honors have been compared to a knighthood in Britain, or the French Legion of Honor--the quintessential reward for a lifetime's endeavor. At the same time, the annual addition of new names to the roster of Honors recipients charts the international standard of excellence set by America's artists, as well as the aesthetic inspiration provided by artists of other nations who have achieved prominence on these shores.
The annual Honors gala is an evening without categories, without disappointments, and without competition. And the Honors telecast, aired during the week between Christmas and New Year's, is a perennial Emmy nominee. It serves for millions of American arts lovers as the year's crowning event, paying tribute to our nation's preeminent artists with performances by the great stars of today who have followed in their footsteps.
The complete list of guest performers is kept secret until the show is in progress, keeping both the Honorees and the nation on the edge of their seats. "Our tradition of surprises and surprise guests is particularly special," says George Stevens, Jr., the show's longtime co-producer. "[The fun of the show] is increased by not knowing what to expect; the evening becomes exciting for the Honorees, whose reactions and pleasure at the proceedings make the evening so much fun to watch."
