VOICE ONE:
This week, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts inWashington, D.C., begins its thirty-first year of presentingcultural events. Millions of people have visited this large whitebuilding on the Potomac River. I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Sarah Long. The Kennedy Center is our report today on theVOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.
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VOICE ONE:
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts justcelebrated its thirtieth anniversary. As many as forty-thousandpeople attended the birthday party on Sunday. They enjoyed examplesof programs the Kennedy Center will present in the future.
Visitors chose from many free programs at this Open House ArtsFestival. For example, the National Symphony Orchestra played musicby Ludwig van Beethoven. The Billy Taylor Trio played jazz. TheCoulibaly (COOL-ah-bah-lee) Brothers told stories and played musicof West Africa.
VOICE TWO:
More than two-million people attend plays, concerts, musicaldramas and other shows each year at the Kennedy Center. Some areproduced at the Kennedy Center for the first time.
The Center is a memorial to John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He wasAmerica’s thirty-fifth president. It also is the official nationalperforming arts center.
VOICE ONE:
The Kennedy Center also serves as an educational headquarters. Itsupports and teaches people about the performing arts in America. Itcreates programs for teachers and students of all ages. It supportscompetitions and training programs for students. It pays youngperforming artists to create new works. And it presents manyprograms for children.
About three-million people visit the Kennedy Center each year.Visitors can see a large statue of the head of President Kennedy. Inthe Hall of States they can see the flags of all the states andterritories of the United States. In the Hall of Nations they cansee the flags of more than one-hundred-sixty countries. Visitors cansee gifts that more than forty countries have given to the KennedyCenter. These include beautiful floor coverings, wall coverings andworks of art.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE TWO:
The campaign to build a cultural center in Washington beganbefore John Kennedy was elected president. In Nineteen-Fifty-Eight,President Dwight Eisenhower signed the National Cultural Center Act.He said the United States needed a place to show its artisticsuccesses.
One of the earliest problems was finding a place for thebuilding. Board members of the cultural center chose an area calledFoggy Bottom. It is low and sometimes wet. This caused some peopleto say the building would sink in the mud.
VOICE ONE:
Another problem was money. Workers for the cultural center had togain millions of dollars from gifts. The government would supply thesame amount as these gifts.
John F. Kennedy took office as president in Nineteen-Sixty-One.He campaigned for the national cultural center. His wife Jacquelinehelped gain money for the center. So did Mamie Dowd Eisenhower, thewife of former President Eisenhower.
President Kennedy was killed in Nineteen-Sixty-Three. Congresssoon declared the cultural center a memorial to him. The NationalPark Service was to operate the John F. Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts as a national monument.
VOICE TWO:
It was not easy to gain enough money for the Kennedy Center.Workers for the center had to have more than fifteen-million dollarsby June Thirtieth, Nineteen-Sixty-Five. If this did not happen, theywould not receive money from the United States government. Theywould not be able to build the center. Most of June passed, and thecampaign still had not reached its goal. Then on June Twenty-Ninththe people of Italy gave more than one-million dollars worth ofmarble to build the center. Other countries also gave money. Thesegifts rescued the project.
VOICE ONE:
Building finally began on the John F. Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts in Nineteen-Sixty-Seven. Four years later, thecompleted Kennedy Center stood along the Potomac River. ArchitectEdward Durrell Stone had designed a simple and beautiful building.It cost about seventy-million dollars.
The Kennedy Center’s opening night was September Eighth,Nineteen-Seventy-One. Guests heard a new musical work by a majorAmerican composer. Leonard Bernstein wrote “Mass” to honor PresidentKennedy. Here is Mister Bernstein conducting “Gloria Tibi” from his”Mass.”
((TAPE CUT ONE: FROM “MASS” BY LEONARD BERNSTEIN))
VOICE TWO:
Today, the Kennedy Center has several performing areas. TheConcert Hall is the largest. The National Symphony Orchestraperforms there. So do popular entertainers. The Washington Operaperforms in the Opera House. Ballets and musical comedies areperformed in the Opera House, too. Plays and some opera and danceproductions take place in the Eisenhower Theater. Smaller theatersin the Kennedy Center present music groups, plays, children’sperformances and films.
Some of the world’s finest artists have performed in the KennedyCenter over the years. These include great classical musicians likepianist Vladimir Horowitz and violinist Isaac Stern. They alsoinclude great jazz artists like Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie,Herbie Hancock and Sarah Vaughan.
VOICE ONE:
The Kennedy Center will continue to present excellent performersthis year and next year. They will include members of The NewNational Theatre of Japan. They will appear in the play “PacificOvertures.” Dancers from Russia, Cuba and Australia will presentballet. American composer Stephen Sondheim will be honored withperformances of six of his musical plays. They include “A LittleNight Music.”
VOICE ONE:
Arts expert Michael Kaiser recently became president of theKennedy Center. He wants to make the center larger. Mister Kaiserhas proposed adding two new buildings to the Kennedy Center. Onebuilding would contain a performing arts museum. The other buildingwould provide space for the Washington Opera. A committee isstudying the environmental effects of the proposed additions.
VOICE TWO:
The Kennedy Center recently opened a show for visitors aboutPresident Kennedy. Part of the exhibit is called “The LivingMemorial.” A picture collection introduces President Kennedy’s life.Sound devices in eight computers contain parts of the formerpresident’s most important speeches. Films and his voice bring tolife some of America’s most historic moments. For example, PresidentKennedy sounds hopeful as he gives his swearing-in speech inJanuary, Nineteen Sixty-One. The speech called on Americans to servetheir country.
((TAPE CUT TWO: Excerpt from Kennedy inaugural speech))
“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can dofor you – ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizensof the world: ask not what America will do for you, but whattogether we can do for the freedom of man.”
VOICE ONE:
Americans hope the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Artswill continue serving the public for many more years. PresidentKennedy once said that America would not be remembered for victoriesor defeats in battle or in politics. Instead, he said the nationwould be remembered for its gifts to the human spirit.
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VOICE TWO:
This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. It was produced byCaty Weaver. Our studio engineer was Keith Holmes. I’m Sarah Long.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for anotherreport about life in the United States on the VOA Special Englishprogram, THIS IS AMERICA.