Kennedy Center Announces $5 Million Gift from Adrienne Arsht

Michael M. Kaiser, President of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, today announced a major gift of $5 million from Adrienne Arsht in support of musical theater programming at the Kennedy Center. Over the next ten years, The Adrienne Arsht Musical Theater Fund will provide support to produce and present a wide variety of musical Theater Productions at the Kennedy Center.

"Adrienne is a wonderfully dedicated patron of the arts," said Kaiser. "Her longstanding relationship with the Kennedy Center has taken many shapes-from being a Circles donor for over 30 years and investing in Roger Stevens Theater Productions, to chairing the National Symphony Orchestra Ball and underwriting our recent Arts in Crisis initiative. With this very generous new gift, Kennedy Center audiences will be able to continue to enjoy wonderful theatrical productions for years to come. We are also thrilled that Adrienne is back in Washington to enjoy the many fruits of her philanthropy."

"It's a great honor to lend my support to the Kennedy Center and its musical theater program to ensure that the arts live on for future generations to enjoy," said Adrienne Arsht. "I've experienced first hand the unbelievable memories the Kennedy Center creates and look forward to working along side Michael Kaiser and his extraordinary team on this program to support many more history making seasons and performances."

Adrienne Arsht is a respected national business leader and hands-on philanthropist who has taken a leading role in promoting artistic, business, and civic growth and engagement. She has also built a legacy of using her past experiences to help the next generation of business leaders.

Born in Delaware and a longtime resident of Washington, D.C. from 1979 to the late 1990s, Ms. Arsht has been a Kennedy Center donor since 1979. In the early 1980s, she was named chairman of Kennedy Center Productions, Inc. (KCPI), an organization created by founding chairman Roger L. Stevens to produce Broadway-bound theatrical production at the Kennedy Center. She has been a regular participant in years of Kennedy Center special events, including her serving as National Chair of the National Symphony Orchestra Season Opening Ball in 2008. Currently, she is one of two principal underwriters for the Kennedy Center's Arts in Crisis initiative, which provides free, confidential counsel to over 475 non-profit performing arts groups across the United States. This underwriting also supports the Center's Arts in Crisis 50 State Tour, in which Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser is leading arts community conversations in 65 cities in every state in the Union.

In January 2008, Ms. Arsht's commitment to the arts took the form of a $30 million contribution to Miami's Performing Arts Center. With this contribution, the newly renamed Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County secured its financial footing and ensured the quality cultural programming for future generations and the growth of Miami.

Ms. Arsht, who is chairman emerita of TotalBank, serves on various national boards, including the Metropolitan Opera, American Ballet Theatre, Best Buddies International, and The Global Advisory Board of the Washington National Opera. She is a member of the Fine Arts Committee of the U.S. State Department and the Council on Foreign Relations, and is also a fellow of The Aspen Institute. In South Florida, she is Chairman of the Adrienne Arsht Center Foundation, sits on the board of the University of Miami and Amigos For Kids, and is a lifetime trustee of Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. She was also named Treasurer of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees.

Over the past several years, Ms. Arsht has generously donated funds and resources to numerous organizations. In 2004, she became the first woman to join the Million Dollar Roundtable of United Way of Miami-Dade. In 2005, she announced a $2 million gift to Goucher College, creating the Roxana Cannon Arsht Center for Ethics and Leadership, in honor of her late mother, a Goucher graduate. In October 2008, she announced a $3 million gift to the University of Miami for the creation of the Arsht Ethics Programs at UM and $1 million to the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami. A champion for Latinos and for Hispanic issues, in February 2009, Ms. Arsht announced a $750,000 contribution to Best Buddies International for the development of a Delaware chapter, specifically serving Hispanics and African Americans with mental disabilities.

For more information about the Kennedy Center, please visit www.kennedy-center.org.