The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. The center, which opened September 8, 1971, is a multi-dimensional facility, and as memorial to John F. Kennedy and a cultural center, it produces a wide array of performances encompassing the genres of theater, dance, ballet, and orchestral, chamber, jazz, popular, and folk music, offers multi-media performances for adults and children, and is a nexus of arts education.

In addition to the approximately 2,000 performances held annually for audiences totaling nearly two million, the center hosts touring productions and television and radio broadcasts that, collectively, are seen by 20 million more. Now in its 45th season, the center presents music, dance and theater and supports artists in the creation of new work. With its artistic affiliate, the National Symphony Orchestra, the center’s achievements as a commissioner, producer, and nurturer of developing artists have resulted in over 200 theatrical productions, dozens of new ballets, operas, and musical works.

Tracing its beginning to the National Cultural Center Act of Congress in 1958, which requires that its programming be sustained through private funds, the center represents a public–private partnership. It is both the nation’s public memorial to President John F. Kennedy and the “national center for the performing arts.” Its activities include educational and outreach initiatives, almost entirely funded through ticket sales and gifts from individuals, corporations and private foundations.

The building, designed by architect Edward Durell Stone.

http://www.kennedy-center.org/