Series/Festivals
Current & Future
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Your Home for the Holidays
November & December 2020Whether you're a Washingtonian or visiting from far away, you'll feel at home with these performances full of holiday cheer!
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Lunar New Year Celebration
January 22-February 2, 2020Join us to celebrate the year of the rat with festivities including special events showcasing the arts and culture of China.
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SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras
March 24-31, 2020SHIFT celebrates the vitality, identity, and extraordinary artistry of orchestras and chamber orchestras by creating an immersive festival experience in the nation's capital.
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Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
April 6-10, 2020Through state, regional, and national festivals, KCACTF participants celebrate the creative process, see one another's work, and share experiences and insights within the community of theater artists.
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WORLD STAGES
OngoingThe World Stages Series offers D.C. audiences the unique opportunity to experience the world’s best productions – all under one roof.
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Hip Hop Culture
OngoingThe Hip Hop Culture program at the Kennedy Center recognizes Hip Hop's contributions to global culture and its power to build and transform communities through art and action. Through this programmatic platform, the Center aims to create a dynamic home for Hip Hop and celebrate its role as a catalyst for innovation, exploration and transformation.
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Renée Fleming VOICES
OngoingThe Renée Fleming VOICES series explores the remarkable range and expression of the human voice through a diverse number of talented singers, composers, and other vocal artists.
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Mason Bates, KC Jukebox
OngoingThe genre-bending DJ and composer extraordinaire returns to the Kennedy Center to present a range of innovative music experiences, including the second season of his KC Jukebox immersive concert series and more.
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DECLASSIFIED: Fridays at 9 with the National Symphony Orchestra
OngoingThe secret is out! Select NSO Fridays are taking on a whole new vibe with this innovative mix of classic and modern sounds, special guest artists, dynamic multimedia, audience interaction, and exciting activities before and after the show—all at great price.
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Sound Health
OngoingSound Health, designed to explore the connections between music, health, and wellness, is a new partnership between The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Institutes of Health, the National Endowment for the Arts, and renowned soprano Renée Fleming.
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Direct Current
OngoingModern masterpieces, cutting-edge composition, dance, drag, film, jazz, electronica, ecology, and activism all converge in a two-week celebration of contemporary culture with works new to Washington audiences on every program.
Past
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SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras
March 24-31, 2020SHIFT celebrates the vitality, identity, and extraordinary artistry of orchestras and chamber orchestras by creating an immersive festival experience in the nation's capital.
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The REACH Opening Festival
September 7-22, 2019At Opening Day, experience the colorful spectrum of what the full festival, and the future of our expanded campus, has in store. Together, we’ll collectively engage all of our senses and start making our mark on D.C.’s new home for creativity in action.
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Page to Stage Festival
August 31, 2019 - September 2, 2019The Kennedy Center annually hosts more than 50 Washington-area theater companies in a series of free readings and open rehearsals of plays and musicals. This three-day event gives audiences a look at new works being prepared for Washington premieres in the upcoming season.
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The Human Journey
October 1, 2018 - August 4, 2019The Human Journey is a collaboration between the Kennedy Center, National Geographic Society, and the National Gallery of Art in the 2018-2019 season that strives to promote deeper understanding of issues like migration (forced or by choice), exploration, identity, and the resilience of people to overcome the barriers and behaviors that stand in our way.
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Page to Stage Festival
September 1 – September 3, 2018The Kennedy Center annually hosts more than 50 Washington-area theater companies in a series of free readings and open rehearsals of plays and musicals. This three-day event gives audiences a look at new works being prepared for Washington premieres in the upcoming season.
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Leonard Bernstein at 100
September 2017 – August 2018Beginning September, 2017, the Kennedy Center will be the centerpiece for the launch of a yearlong international centennial celebration of iconic American composer, conductor, pianist, educator, and humanitarian Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990). We invite you to join us to honor his legacy by experiencing some of his most cherished works.
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District of Comedy Festival
July 19 – 21, 2018The Kennedy Center presents its second annual all-star showcase of celebrated comedians headlining venues all around the building, along with a collaboration with Chicago's legendary comedy theater The Second City.
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Artes de Cuba
May 8-20, 2018For two weeks this spring, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will present Artes de Cuba: From the Island to the World, a festival celebrating the artistic richness that has emerged from this "island archipelago in the sun." This unprecedented gathering of Cuban and Cuban American artists represents some of the world's greatest from the island and the Diaspora.
Additional support for Renée Fleming VOICES is provided by the Buffy and William Cafritz Family Foundation.
New Artistic Initiatives are funded in honor of Linda and Kenneth Pollin.
Support for JFKC: A Centennial Celebration of John F. Kennedy is provided by Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley and The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.
Generous support of the SHIFT Festival is provided through a matching grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, by Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather, and by Michael F. and Noémi K. Neidorff and The Centene Charitable Foundation.
SHIFT is funded in part by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Additional support is provided by Abramson Family Foundation, Betsy and Robert Feinberg, Morton and Norma Lee Funger, and Daniel R. Lewis.
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