CBS to broadcast Kennedy Center Honors on Monday, December 23rd
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has announced the selection of five honorees who will receive the 47th Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements. Recipients to be honored at the annual national celebration of the arts in Washington, DC this December are acclaimed director and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola; legendary American rock band the Grateful Dead (Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Bobby Weir); blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Bonnie Raitt; jazz trumpeter, pianist, and composer Arturo Sandoval; and The Apollo, which will receive a special Honors as an iconic American institution. Done+Dusted are Executive Producers of the 47th annual Kennedy Center Honors, which airs on the CBS Television Network for the 47th year and will stream on Paramount+.
“Thank you, Kennedy Center, and to all the folks who had a hand in bringing us here, for this incredible honor,” share Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh & Bobby Weir of the Grateful Dead.
“I am deeply honored and thrilled to have been chosen to receive one of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors,” adds Raitt. “I have long been an admirer of the awards and have been so blessed to be able to participate in several shows honoring others. There is no higher level of esteem nor as delightful a celebration and I want to extend my sincere thanks to all who have chosen me to receive this honor. I look forward to the upcoming ceremony and festivities, which I know will be one of my life’s peak experiences.”
Throughout its 46-year history, the annual Honors Gala has become the highlight of the Washington cultural and society calendar. On Sunday, December 8th, in a star-studded celebration on the Kennedy Center Opera House stage, the 47th class of Kennedy Center Honorees will be saluted by today’s leading performers from New York, Hollywood, and the arts capitals of the world. Seated in the Box Tier of the iconic Kennedy Center Opera House, the Honorees will accept the recognition and gratitude of their peers through performances and tributes. The 47th Kennedy Center Honors Gala concludes with a post-performance party in the Grand Foyer.
The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes and celebrates individuals whose unique contributions have shaped the way we see ourselves, each other, and our world. Recipients have each had an impact on the rich tapestry of American life and culture through the performing arts. Whether in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures, or television, each Kennedy Center Honoree has a unique place in the national consciousness and their influence has inspired audiences from all walks of life.
The honoree selection process includes the solicitation of recommendations from former honorees, the artistic community, the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, and the general public. This year’s selected Honorees were chosen based on the recommendation of the Center’s Special Honors Advisory Committee, which is chaired by David Bohnett and includes past honors recipients and distinguished artists Gloria Estefan, Sally Field, Renée Fleming, Herbie Hancock, Judith Jamison, Lionel Richie, and John Williams, as well as David M. Rubenstein, Deborah F. Rutter, Bryan Lourd, Cappy McGarr, Shonda Rhimes, and Daryl Roth. These individuals play a critical role in the evaluation and selection process, and the Kennedy Center is indebted to them for their involvement.
Each year, honorees are confirmed by the Executive Committee of the Center’s Board of Trustees. The honors are not designated by art form or category of artistic achievement; over the years, the selection process has produced balance among the various arts and artistic disciplines.
The Grateful Dead is a social and musical phenomenon that grew into a genuine American treasure. Formed as a quintet in California in 1965, the Grateful Dead became as much a folktale as the story from which they drew their name. Fusing rock and roll, folk, and jazz with avant-garde, visual, and literary traditions—and virtually inventing a new way to play music in the process—they became one of the most popular, enduring, and influential bands in American history.
In 1965, an entire generation was linked together by common ideals, gathering by the hundreds and thousands. This movement created a seamless connection between the band and its fans, known as Dead Heads, who followed the band not because it was part of popular culture but because it was a true counterculture that exists to this day—one that earnestly believes in the value of its beliefs. By 1995, the Grateful Dead had attracted the most concertgoers in the history of the music business and today remains one of the all-time leaders in concert ticket sales. They created an unparalleled original songbook through 30 years of recording and touring, never playing the same setlist twice (except that once), making their musical legacy unfathomably rich, spread across a combined body of live and studio recordings.
Today, the connection between the band and its fans is as strong as ever. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Their final tally of 2,318 total concerts remains a world record. In 2024, the Grateful Dead celebrated their 59th Top 40 album on the Billboard chart, a feat no other artist has achieved.
Emerging as a vessel for a vibrant global counterculture, the Grateful Dead created an artistic ecosystem all their own, transforming American music and arguably even America itself. Their influence on music and culture has been profound, and even after Jerry Garcia died in 1995, the band’s legacy has endured. Surviving members have continued to perform in various configurations ensuring that the music and spirit of the Grateful Dead live on.
Mickey Hart’s Drum Circle appeared as part of the Center’s 2018 Sound Health: Music and the Mind initiative; and Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros featuring The Wolfpack performed with the National Symphony Orchestra in October 2022.
Bonnie Raitt is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose unique style blends blues, R&B, rock, and pop. After 20 years as a cult favorite, she broke through to the top in the early ’90s with her Grammy Award-winning albums Nick of Time and Luck of the Draw, which featured hits, “Something To Talk About” and “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” among others. The 13-time Grammy winner was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
2023 kicked off with Raitt earning three Grammy Awards at the 65th Annual ceremony: Song of the Year and Best American Roots Song for the title track of her most recent album Just Like That… and Best Americana Performance for “Made Up Mind.” Raitt was also honored with the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award in the year prior. Raitt has been on tour for most of 2023 and 2024 with stops in the US, Australia, the UK, Ireland, and Canada.
2022 was an incredible year for Raitt who had a 75-date headlining US tour; released her critically acclaimed, 21st album Just Like That… on her independent label, Redwing Records; received the Icon Award at the 2022’s Billboard Women In Music Awards; and saw her breakthrough album, Nick of Time, added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. Just Like That… was No. 1 on six Billboard charts the week of release and was perched at No. 1 on the Americana Radio Album Chart for ten consecutive weeks. The album’s first single, “Made Up Mind,” remained in the top three spots on the Americana Radio Singles Chart for 17 weeks.
As known for her lifelong commitment to social activism as she is for her music, Raitt has long been involved with the environmental movement, performing concerts around oil, nuclear power, mining, water, and forest protection since the mid-70s. She was a founding member of MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy), which produced the historic concerts, album, and film all known as No Nukes as well as a founding member of The Rhythm and Blues Foundation, which works for royalty reform and recognition of generations of pioneer R&B artists. She continues to work on safe energy issues in addition to environmental protection, social justice, Native American and human rights, artists’ rights, and music education.
