Trump Will Skip Kennedy Center Honors for Second Year in a Row

As BroadwayWorld reported in July, the John F. KENNEDY Center for the Performing Arts will present the 2018 KENNEDY CENTER HONORS for lifetime artistic achievements on December 2, and the event will be held with an empty Presidential box for the second year in a row. NBC reports that President Trump and the first lady will not attend the ceremony, which is typically attended by the first couple.

Additionally, it is "not likely" that Trump will announce any new winners of the National Medal of Arts or National Humanities Medal this year, according to the first lady's director of communications, Stephanie Grisham.

Recipients to be honored at the 41st annual national celebration of the arts are: singer and actress Cher, composer and pianist Philip Glass, Country music entertainer Reba McEntire, and jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter. This year, the co-creators of Hamilton-writer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Thomas Kail, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, and music director Alex Lacamoire-will receive a unique KENNEDY CENTER HONORS as trailblazing creators of a transformative work that defies category.

Throughout its 40-year history, the annual Honors Gala has become the highlight of the Washington cultural and society calendar, and its national broadcast on CBS is a high point of the television season. On Sunday, December 2, in a star-studded celebration on the KENNEDY Center Opera House stage, produced by Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss of White Cherry Entertainment, the 2018 Honorees will be saluted by today's leading performers from New York, Hollywood, and the arts capitals of the world. Seated in the Box Tier of the iconic KENNEDY Center Opera House, the Honorees will accept the recognition and gratitude of their peers through performances and tributes.

The Honors recipients recognized for their contributions to American culture through the performing arts-whether in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures, or television-are confirmed by the Executive Committee of the Center's Board of Trustees. The primary criterion in the selection process is excellence. The Honors are not designated by art form or category of artistic achievement; the selection process, over the years, has produced balance among the various arts and artistic disciplines.