The 2024 recipients of the Kennedy Centers Honors have been announced and the surviving members of the Grateful Dead and Bonnie Raitt are among the luminaries who be acknowledged with the prestigious accolade.
This year’s other honorees include renowned filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and acclaimed jazz trumpeter and pianist Arturo Sandoval. In addition, The Apollo theater will receive a special honor as an iconic American institution.
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The 47th Kennedy Center Honors event is scheduled to take place on December 8 at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C. As is the tradition, each honoree will be saluted with special performances, speeches and presentations. CBS will broadcast a special featuring highlights from the gala on December 23; the show also will stream on Paramount+.
“The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes artists who have made an extraordinary impact on the cultural life of our nation and continue to have an immeasurable influence on new generations,” Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein noted in a statement. Rubenstein also shared praise for this year’s honorees, including the Grateful Dead and Raitt.
“A social and cultural phenomenon since 1965, the Grateful Dead’s music has never stopped being a true American original, while inspiring a fan culture like no other,” he said of the famed jam band.
As for Raitt, Rubinstein declared, “Bonnie Raitt has made us love her again and again with her inimitable voice, slide guitar, and endless musical range encompassing blues, R&B, country rock, and folk; ‘an ambassador of both music and humanity.’”
The Grateful Dead’s Statement About the Honor
The 2024 Kennedy Center Honors will celebrate the four core surviving members of the Grateful Dead—singer/guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh, and drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. The four musicians issued a joint statement about the honor.
“It goes without saying that the Kennedy Center Honors represents the highest of reaches for artistic achievement,” the statement reads in part. “To be recognized alongside the artists who have in the past received this honor is beyond humbling.”
The message continues, “The Grateful Dead has always been about community, creativity, and exploration in music and presentation. We’ve always felt that the music we make embodies and imparts something beyond the notes and phrases being played—and that is something we are privileged to share with all who are drawn to what we do—so it also must be said that our music belongs as much to our fans, the Dead Heads, as it does to us. This honor, then, is as much theirs as ours.”
Bonnie Raitt’s Statement
Raitt also shared a message expressing how she feels about being recognized with the notable honor.
“I am deeply honored and thrilled to have been chosen to receive one of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors,” she writes. “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.”
For more information about the 2024 Kennedy Center Honors, visit Kennedy-Center.org.