Yo-Yo Ma Renée Fleming Q-Tip

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1 Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 8, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts welcomes Three New Artistic Partners to Lead Center-wide Artistic and Community Initiatives Yo-Yo Ma Renée Fleming Q-Tip Yo-Yo Ma to Serve as Artistic Advisor At Large, Advocating and Fostering JFK Ideals Through Programming and Public Engagement Renée Fleming to Serve as Artistic Advisor At Large, Curating VOICES Series and Launching Initiatives to Explore and Expand the Impact of Arts in Society Q-Tip Appointed to Establish a Dynamic New Program as the Center s First Artistic Director of Hip Hop Culture (WASHINGTON) As part of its season announcement, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced three newly appointed roles and key relationships with legendary cellist and humanitarian Yo-Yo Ma (Artistic Advisor At Large), superstar soprano and arts advocate Renée Fleming (Artistic Advisor At Large), and renowned Hip Hop artist and socially conscious cultural pioneer Q-Tip (Artistic Director for Hip Hop Culture). As artists, curators, and thought leaders, these three new advisory roles will advance important institution-wide initiatives, and explore new facets of the arts on both local and ~ more ~

2 national levels over the next three years. Mr. Ma, Ms. Fleming, and Q-Tip will join the Kennedy Center s current multidisciplinary team of Artistic Partners including: Philippe Auguin, Music Director, Washington National Opera; Mason Bates, Kennedy Center Composer in Residence; Christoph Eschenbach, Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra and Kennedy Center; Suzanne Farrell, Artistic Advisor for Ballet Programming and Artistic Director for The Suzanne Farrell Ballet; Joseph Kalichstein, Artistic Director for Fortas and Chamber Music Programming; Jason Moran, Artistic Director for Jazz Programming; Gianandrea Noseda, Music Director Designate, National Symphony Orchestra; Steven Reineke, NSO Principal Pops Conductor; and Francesca Zambello, Artistic Director, Washington National Opera. Our team has dedicated a great deal of time reimagining how we can put artists at the very center of our work here at the Kennedy Center. The current season already shows many examples of this commitment to artist-centric programming with Jason Moran s Jason+ series, Mason Bates s KC Jukebox, and Damian Woetzel s DEMO, commented Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter. I have invited three very forward-thinking artists, Yo-Yo, Renée, and Q-Tip, to collaborate with us on the deepest levels as we shape the future of the Center s programming and seize our responsibility to represent the performing arts in contemporary culture. I expect the outcomes of our work with these exceptional artists will have a transformative impact on the way arts patrons interact not only with the Kennedy Center, but the arts in communities around the country. Yo-Yo Ma joins the Kennedy Center effective immediately as Artistic Advisor At Large, a three-year role in which he will guide both the Center s future programming and public engagement around the JFK Centennial theme and ideals of courage, freedom, justice, service, and gratitude. As the Kennedy Center celebrates this milestone, Ma will play a central role in introducing these themes to a wide spectrum of audiences. Focusing primarily on public service and support for culture, Mr. Ma begins his new appointment with the annual Kennedy Center Arts Summit, April 25, 2016, an event he will co-host and co-curate with Renee Fleming. He will also collaborate with Kennedy Center artistic administrators on the development of new 2

3 programming formats, participate in interactive discussions and interviews, advance the broad work of the Center through advocacy, as well as engage in educational activities through mentorship, master classes, and visits to local schools. It is an honor and a privilege to be associated with the Kennedy Center, the living memorial to President Kennedy, and what he stood for, commented Yo-Yo Ma. I look forward to working with Deborah Rutter and the great Kennedy Center team as the Center prepares to mark the centennial of his birth. American soprano Renée Fleming also joins the Kennedy Center in 2016, as Artistic Advisor At Large, a position that embodies her talents as curator, educator, and performer. An advocate for breaking down perceived barriers between art forms, Fleming will work to inform, innovate, and create new work and initiatives throughout her three-year appointment. As a thought leader for Kennedy Center programming, she will begin by curating a new concert series celebrating the full gamut of vocal expression. She will also contribute to educational and development initiatives, and perform in a variety of creative programming. Renée Fleming VOICES, a new Kennedy Center series, will feature presentations in every space at the Center, embracing genres from singer-songwriter, jazz and pop, to classical and beyond. The series will host artists both established and emerging whose performances influence American culture. Drawing upon her past successes from the acclaimed 2013 American Voices Festival at the Center in 2013, and her current project at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Voices, Fleming s initiatives will cultivate community engagement and celebrate the vibrant artistic history of our nation s capital, while bringing new audiences to the Kennedy Center. I believe in the critical importance of arts in our lives, so I m thrilled to advocate for this at our national cultural center at a pivotal time in its history, said Ms. Fleming. As the Kennedy Center expands and celebrates the JFK Centennial, we face a changing landscape in the way Americans seek meaning, inspiration, and shared experience. My work at the Kennedy Center will honor the arts power to enrich us, heal us, and help us make sense of an ever more complex world. Fleming will also serve as an important thought partner to the Center. In addition to her role this season as co-host for the annual Arts Summit, next season Ms. Fleming seeks to champion the work being done nationally both in the medical community and within the arts 3

4 world at the intersection of health and the arts. Using the Kennedy Center as a national platform and collaborating with scientific, artistic, and medical experts, she will lead a new initiative exploring the holistic benefits the arts have on the brain and body from aiding childhood development and academic engagement to treating PTSD, chronic pain, autism, and Alzheimer s. Hip Hop culture is defined by the core elements of deejaying, emceeing, breakdancing, and graffiti writing. The fifth element, knowledge of self, was the key contribution of Afrika Bambaataa, founder of the first Hip Hop organization, the Universal Zulu Nation. Q-Tip, an active member of the Zulu Nation, joins the Center as its first Artistic Director of Hip Hop Culture. He embodies both the multifaceted nature of the culture, as well as a history of seminal work and longstanding relevance within the Hip Hop community. My new position as Artistic Director for Hip Hop Culture gives me the ability to show many lanes and perspectives in which Hip Hop is breaking, and has broken, new ground, commented Q-Tip. Q-Tip will build on the work the Center has done over the past 15 years presenting a wide range of Hip Hop arts with the support of the Center s long-time collaborators Hi-ARTS. In his role as Artistic Director, Q-Tip will establish a dynamic, new program that will include work across all disciplines, bringing the historic roots, contemporary expressions, and transformative power of Hip Hop culture to the Center and local and national audiences. In November of 2016, the Kennedy Center will host the Words, Beats & Life Teach-In, a convening for educators aimed at remixing the art of social change through a Hip Hop approach. The season will also include Kennedy Center co-commissions of two new Hip Hop theatrical works, All The Way Live! for young audiences in October of 2016, and /peh-lo-tah/ in June of 2017, a performance work that links the sport of soccer to local and global social dynamics. Q-Tip emerged on the Hip Hop cultural radar in the late 80s as an emcee and one-fourth of the trailblazing Hip Hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Together, the band released five albums between 1990 and The group made an indelible mark on both popular music and the global cultural landscape with their pioneering use of a unique blend of jazz and soul samples with overt celebration of African heritage, individualism, fashion, and fun. Their distinctive lyrical content ranges from personal introspection to social commentary elevated by masterfully crafted storytelling and Hip Hop bravado. Q-Tip s artistic innovation and exploration continue through 4

5 his work as a recording artist and producer of music and film, an actor, DJ, curator, advocate, and organizer of Hip Hop culture. ABOUT THE JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is America s living memorial to President Kennedy. Under the leadership of Chairman David M. Rubenstein and President Deborah F. Rutter, the nine theaters and stages of the nation s busiest performing arts facility attract audiences and visitors totaling 3 million people annually; Center-related touring productions, television, and radio broadcasts welcome 40 million more. Opening its doors on September 8, 1971, the Center presents the greatest performances of music, dance, and theater; supports artists in the creation of new work; and serves the nation as a leader in arts education. With its artistic affiliates, the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, the Center s achievements as a commissioner, producer, and nurturer of developing artists have resulted in more than 300 theatrical productions, and dozens of new ballets, operas, and musical works. Each year, millions of people nationwide take part in innovative, inclusive, and effective education programs initiated by the Center, including school- and community-based residencies and consultancies; age-appropriate performances and events for young people; career development for young actors, dancers, singers, and instrumentalists; and professional learning opportunities for teachers, teaching artists, and school administrators. These programs have become models for communities across the country. The Center s Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child program works with selected local school districts and seeks to provide a comprehensive arts education to children K-8. The Center also has been at the forefront of making the performing arts accessible to persons with disabilities, highlighted by the work accomplished with its affiliate, VSA. As part of the Kennedy Center s Performing Arts for Everyone outreach program, the Center stages more than 400 free performances of music, dance, and theater by artists from throughout the world each year on the Center s main stages, and every evening at 6 p.m. on the Millennium Stage. The Rubenstein Arts Access Program expands the Center s efforts to make the arts accessible to children, young adults, and to people who have little or limited ability to attend and enjoy the performing arts, enabling audiences to engage in more ways, at more times, and in more places than ever before. For more information about the Kennedy Center, please visit Discover the Kennedy Center on social media: PRESS CONTACT Eileen Andrews (202) ETAndrews@kennedy-center.org # # # 5