John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts - History

History

The idea for the center dates back to 1933 when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt discussed ideas for the Emergency Relief and Civil Works Administration to create employment for unemployed actors during the Great Depression. In 1935, Congress held hearings on plans to establish a new Department of Science, Art and Literature and to build a monumental theater and arts building on Capitol Hill near the Supreme Court building. A small auditorium was added at the Library of Congress, but it had restrictions on its use. A congressional resolution in 1938 called for construction of a "public building which shall be known as the National Cultural Center" near Judiciary Square, but nothing materialized.

In 1950, the idea for a national theater resurfaced when U.S. Representative Arthur George Klein of New York introduced a bill to authorize funds to plan and build a cultural center as a memorial to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The bill included provisions that the center would prohibit any discrimination of cast or audience. In 1955, SRI International was commissioned to select a site and provide design suggestions for the center. From 1955 to 1958, the idea was debated in Congress, amidst much controversy. In the summer of 1958, a bill was finally passed in Congress and on September 4, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the National Cultural Center Act which provided momentum for the project.

This was the first time in history that the federal government helped finance a structure dedicated to the performing arts. The legislation required a portion of the costs, estimated at $10–25 million, to be raised within five years of passage of the bill. Edward Durell Stone was selected as architect for the project in June 1959. He presented preliminary designs to the President's Music Committee in October 1959, along with estimated costs of $50 million, double the original estimates of $25–30 million. By November 1959, estimated costs had escalated to $61 million. Despite this, Stone's design was well received in editorials in The Washington Post, Washington Star, and quickly approved by the United States Commission of Fine Arts, National Capital Planning Commission, and the National Park Service.

The National Cultural Center was renamed the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1964, following the assassination of President Kennedy.