Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt, and Apollo Theater Among 2024 Kennedy Center Honorees

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has announced its 2024 honors list. Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt, Francis Ford Coppola, Arturo Sandoval, and the New York venue Apollo Theater will be recognized for their contributions to the arts. The Washington, D.C., ceremony takes place on December 8, and will air on CBS and Paramount+.

David M. Rubenstein, the Kennedy Center chairman, said in a press release:

A brilliant and masterful storyteller with an unrelenting innovative spirit, Francis Ford Coppola’s films have become embedded in the very idea of American culture; 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; 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,’ Arturo Sandoval transcended literal borders coming from Cuba 30-plus years ago and today continues to bridge cultures with his intoxicating blend of Afro Cuban rhythms and modern jazz; and on its 90th anniversary, The Apollo, one of the most consequential, influential institutions in history, has elevated the voices of Black entertainment in New York City, nationally, and around the world, and launched the careers of legions of artists.

Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Bobby Weir, of the Grateful Dead, added, in part:

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.

From our earliest days in San Francisco and as far as our tours have taken us, it has been and still is an incredible ride. We’ve had the opportunity to play with many talented musicians, interact with many gifted people—and to be part of something much larger than ourselves. Our music has always been about exploration and breaking through or finding our way around barriers, not just musically but also in bringing people together. The energy, the love, the connection and sharing—once again, that’s what it’s all about.

Read Emma Carmichael’s Sunday Review of Bonnie Raitt’s Nick of Time.