John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Part 1 (2001-2003)
Washington, D.C.

Michael M. Kaiser, 2005

In 2001, the Kennedy Center was financially stable and not in need of a “turnaround”. For the next two years a focus on presenting distinctive arts and educational programming helped the organization more fully realize its mission as the nation’s center for the performing arts.

Shortly after my resignation from the Royal Opera House was announced, I was phoned by Jim Wolfensohn, Chairman of the World Bank, asking if I would be interested in running the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. I had known Jim casually for some years and had spent a bit more time with him during my tenure in London. We were united by both a deep interest in the performing arts and, especially, a friendship with Valery Gergiev, the dynamic maestro of the Kirov.

To be honest, while I told Jim I would certainly enjoy discussing this position with the appropriate people—my initial thought was that the Kennedy Center job was not right for me. I had often remarked to Claudette Donlon—my right hand for so many years—when we brought American Ballet Theatre (ABT) to the Kennedy Center that the staff size seemed bloated and that there didn’t seem much to do. (I was soon to learn how wrong I was.) I also felt that Lincoln Center, whose own President had announced his resignation within weeks of the same announcement from the President of the Kennedy Center, was a more natural fit for me. I thought of New York as home and I knew then, as I do now, that Lincoln Center is the most amazing agglomeration of performing arts organizations in the world.

But as I studied both organizations from a distance, I learned that the organization structures of these two places were radically different. Lincoln Center housed a dozen or so separate arts organizations with separate managements and Boards. The Kennedy Center was one organization with many art forms coordinated by its President. I would have far more artistic latitude in Washington than in New York. I could develop programming that crossed art forms far more easily in Washington. And, of course, no one from Lincoln Center was knocking down my door!

I met with Jim Johnson, the hugely successful Chairman of the Kennedy Center, over lunch in London. He explained the array of possibilities the Kennedy Center had open to it. He made a persuasive case and he seemed to think I was a logical candidate for the top job.

I met with Tom Wheeler, the Chair of the Search Committee, also in London, and then had a series of interviews in Washington and New York. Carter Brown, the former Director of the National Gallery and a member of the Kennedy Center Board had me to his home for lunch with Alma Powell, wife of Colin Powell. I met with Ted Kennedy (and his dog) at his office in Congress. Senator Kennedy has maintained a deep interest in the Center that honors the memory of his brother. I met with Dennis Hastert, the Speaker of the House. It was all rather heady. The entire search process was remarkably well organized, very different from my experiences at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Foundation, ABT or the Royal Opera House. And it was the first time in my life that an organization actually came after me for a job—I was used to having to work hard to convince a Board to hire me.

Throughout the search process, I was asked to give ideas of the things I would want to accomplish at the Center and of projects that I thought might make a difference. I believed that the Kennedy Center did far better work than it was credited; my predecessors, especially the outgoing President Larry Wilker, had developed a huge array of artistic and educational programs but the world did not know about them and the Center was mistakenly viewed as little more than a regional arts presenter.

I explained that I wanted to make the Kennedy Center an arts destination, with people coming to Washington in order to go to the Kennedy Center, not simply buying tickets because they happen to be in Washington anyway. I would work to bring more acclaim to the Center through a focused institutional marketing effort and with some high profile, unique programming. I had had an idea over 10 years before to do a cycle of Sondheim musicals in repertory to dispel myths about the work of the greatest Broadway composer. The Search Committee seemed to like this idea.

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John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

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