Kennedy Center Membership: The Importance of Your Gift

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The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

| The Circles | Circle Levels | Benefit Details | Tax Deductibility | The Importance of Your Gift | Join the Circles |

The Kennedy Center relies on the generosity of people like you to continue the outstanding performances that have stirred the imagination and defined artistic greatness. Your Circles gift:

Makes it possible for us to produce and present more than 3,200 stage performances a year.
Enables us to fund new works of music, dance and theater that will continue to exhilarate and enrich the lives of our audiences.
Helps us reach into the community to educate future generations and instill a love for the arts.
Supports special performances for thousands of school children in Washington, Virginia and Maryland.
Provides services such as sign language interpretation and other accessibility enhancements for people with disabilities.

The Kennedy Center receives no direct federal appropriations for performances on our stages, only for the maintenance and upkeep of the building as a presidential memorial.

Ticket sales and other earned income only cover about 60% of our total operating budget. The remaining gap of over $50 million must be filled by contributions.

Gifts from individuals like you comprise the single largest source of the Center's contributed income. Because of the generosity of Circles members, the Center has one of the largest donor groups of any performing arts center in the country.

Join the Circles today. You will make a major difference in the cultural life of Washington and the nation.