Varje år premieras några personer som betytt mycket för USAs kultur med att föräras Kennedy Center Honor. Detta har skett sedan 1978. Nu fick man p.g av pandemin ställa in den gala som skulle skett i december 2020. Men nu i slutet av maj fick de fem som skulle hedrats ifjol sina medaljer. Här fanns 80-åriga Joan Baez ,95-årige Dick Van Dyke, countryns Garth Brooks, 59, koreografen Debbie Allen, 71 och violinisten Midori Goto, 49. En tv-sänd tvåtimmarsgala kommer att visas 6 juni på CBS.
Här ett klipp från CBS idag med Joan Baez intervjuad.
Skådespelaren, sångaren och komikern Dick Van Dyke valdes också in i år. CBS intervjuade häromdagen den remarkabelt pigge Van Dyke.
Här är alla pristagare genom åren;
1970s
- 1978 – Marian Anderson, Fred Astaire, George Balanchine, Richard Rodgers, and Arthur Rubinstein
- 1979 – Aaron Copland, Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Fonda, Martha Graham, and Tennessee Williams
1980s
- 1980 – Leonard Bernstein, James Cagney, Agnes de Mille, Lynn Fontanne, and Leontyne Price
- 1981 – Count Basie, Cary Grant, Helen Hayes, Jerome Robbins, and Rudolf Serkin
- 1982 – George Abbott, Lillian Gish, Benny Goodman, Gene Kelly, and Eugene Ormandy
- 1983 – Katherine Dunham, Elia Kazan, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, and Virgil Thomson
- 1984 – Lena Horne, Danny Kaye, Gian Carlo Menotti, Arthur Miller, and Isaac Stern
- 1985 – Merce Cunningham, Irene Dunne, Bob Hope, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, and Beverly Sills
- 1986 – Lucille Ball, Ray Charles, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, Yehudi Menuhin, and Antony Tudor
- 1987 – Perry Como, Bette Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Nathan Milstein, and Alwin Nikolais
- 1988 – Alvin Ailey, George Burns, Myrna Loy, Alexander Schneider, and Roger L. Stevens
- 1989 – Harry Belafonte, Claudette Colbert, Alexandra Danilova, Mary Martin, and William Schuman
1990s
- 1990 – Dizzy Gillespie, Katharine Hepburn, Risë Stevens, Jule Styne, and Billy Wilder
- 1991 – Roy Acuff, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Fayard and Harold Nicholas, Gregory Peck, and Robert Shaw
- 1992 – Lionel Hampton, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Ginger Rogers, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Paul Taylor
- 1993 – Johnny Carson, Arthur Mitchell, Georg Solti, Stephen Sondheim, and Marion Williams
- 1994 – Kirk Douglas, Aretha Franklin, Morton Gould, Harold Prince, and Pete Seeger
- 1995 – Jacques d’Amboise, Marilyn Horne, B.B. King, Sidney Poitier, and Neil Simon
- 1996 – Edward Albee, Benny Carter, Johnny Cash, Jack Lemmon, and Maria Tallchief
- 1997 – Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, Charlton Heston, Jessye Norman, and Edward Villella
- 1998 – Fred Ebb and John Kander, Willie Nelson, André Previn, and Shirley Temple Black; Bill Cosby‘s honor was rescinded in 2018 due to a sexual assault conviction[26]
- 1999 – Victor Borge, Sean Connery, Judith Jamison, Jason Robards, and Stevie Wonder
2000s
- 2000 – Mikhail Baryshnikov, Chuck Berry, Plácido Domingo, Clint Eastwood, and Angela Lansbury
- 2001 – Julie Andrews, Van Cliburn, Quincy Jones, Jack Nicholson, and Luciano Pavarotti
- 2002 – James Earl Jones, James Levine, Chita Rivera, Paul Simon, and Elizabeth Taylor
- 2003 – James Brown, Carol Burnett, Loretta Lynn, Mike Nichols, and Itzhak Perlman
- 2004 – Warren Beatty, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Elton John, Joan Sutherland, and John Williams
- 2005 – Tony Bennett, Suzanne Farrell, Julie Harris, Robert Redford, and Tina Turner
- 2006 – Andrew Lloyd Webber, Zubin Mehta, Dolly Parton, Smokey Robinson, and Steven Spielberg
- 2007 – Leon Fleisher, Steve Martin, Diana Ross, Martin Scorsese, and Brian Wilson
- 2008 – Morgan Freeman, George Jones, Barbra Streisand, Twyla Tharp, and The Who (Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey)
- 2009 – Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, Robert De Niro, and Bruce Springsteen
2010s
- 2010 – Merle Haggard, Jerry Herman, Bill T. Jones, Paul McCartney, and Oprah Winfrey
- 2011 – Barbara Cook, Neil Diamond, Yo-Yo Ma, Sonny Rollins, and Meryl Streep[27]
- 2012 – Buddy Guy, Dustin Hoffman, David Letterman, Natalia Makarova, and Led Zeppelin (John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant)[28]
- 2013 – Martina Arroyo, Herbie Hancock, Billy Joel, Shirley MacLaine, and Carlos Santana[29]
- 2014 – Al Green, Tom Hanks, Patricia McBride, Sting, and Lily Tomlin[30]
- 2015 – Carole King, George Lucas, Rita Moreno, Seiji Ozawa, and Cicely Tyson[31]
- 2016 – Martha Argerich, Eagles (Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh),[32] Al Pacino, Mavis Staples, and James Taylor[33][34]
- 2017 – Carmen de Lavallade, Gloria Estefan, LL Cool J, Norman Lear, and Lionel Richie
- 2018 – Cher, Philip Glass, Reba McEntire, Wayne Shorter, and the creators of Hamilton: An American Musical (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, Alex Lacamoire, and Andy Blankenbuehler)[24]
- 2019 – Earth, Wind & Fire (Philip Bailey, Verdine White, Ralph Johnson and Maurice White), Sally Field, Linda Ronstadt, Sesame Street (Lloyd Morrisett and Joan Ganz Cooney), and Michael Tilson Thomas[25]
2020
- 2021 – Debbie Allen, Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, Midori, and Dick Van Dyke[35]