This year’s annual award gala honours an eclectic list of showbiz veterans

Each year since 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors has singled out five individuals who’ve left their mark on America. “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,” explained Kennedy Center chairman David M. Rubenstein.

Past honourees have run the gamut, ranging from funnyman Mel Brooks to singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell (one of the rare Canadians to be honoured) to rock groups such as Led Zeppelin and Eagles.

This year, a star-filled cast takes the stage of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., to offer related tributes and performances. Queen Latifah, who was one of last year’s honourees, returns to host the 2024 festivities. This year’s honourees include a famed director, a legendary rock band, an acclaimed blues guitarist, a jazz great and, for the first time, a theatre. They are:

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, director of such iconic cinema classics as The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. Through his American Zoetrope studio (co-founded by George Lucas), the five-time Oscar winner — who also received the Motion Picture Academy’s honourary Irving G. Thalberg Award in 2011 — will become the 50th recipient of the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award in April. “I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to collaborate with great artists and wonderful people throughout my career, and I have never stopped learning,” said Coppola in a statement. “There is no greater honour than to be included along with those who inspired me, who I looked up to, and who gave me encouragement when times were dim.”

THE GRATEFUL DEAD started as The Warlocks in the mid-1960s, and guitarist Jerry Garcia reportedly proposed the name that stuck with the band. He died in 1995, and his surviving colleagues being recognized at The Kennedy Center Honors are Mickey Hart, Billy Kreutzmann, Bobby Weir and the recently deceased Phil Lesh. “It goes without saying that the Kennedy Center Honors represents the highest of reaches for artistic achievement,” said the four in a statement. “To be recognized alongside the artists who have in the past received this honour is beyond humbling. 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.”

BONNIE RAITT has won 13 Grammys plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her unique brand of blues-rock. Also a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, she released her first album in 1971, and over the course of her career, she has had such hit singles as “Something to Talk About,” “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” “Nick of Time,” “Thing Called Love,” “Have a Heart” and “Rock Steady” (the latter a duet with Bryan Adams). “I am deeply honoured and thrilled to have been chosen to receive one of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors,” stated Raitt. “I have long been an admirer of the awards and have been so blessed to be able to participate in several shows honouring others . . . I look forward to the upcoming ceremony and festivities, which I know will be one of my life’s peak experiences.”

ARTURO SANDOVAL is a 10-time Grammy winner, and the Cuban-American trumpeter, pianist and composer was mentored by fellow jazz great Dizzy Gillespie, who facilitated his defection from Cuba while Sandoval was touring in the United Nations Orchestra. His life was dramatized in the 2000 HBO movie For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story, in which he was portrayed by Andy Garcia. “I am profoundly humbled and deeply honoured to be selected as a recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors,” said Sandoval. “This recognition is an extraordinary milestone in my career and a testament to the support and encouragement I have received from my family, friends, colleagues, and fans.”

THE APOLLO THEATER opened its 125th Street location in New York City to Black performers in 1934, with talents ranging from Billie Holiday and Sammy Davis, Jr. to Aretha Franklin and B.B. King among countless performers who’ve graced its stage. The site has also been famous over the years for Showtime at the Apollo, initially staged as a live show and later filmed as a TV series. “We are thrilled to be the first organization honoured in the history of the Kennedy Center Awards, emphasizing the Apollo’s impact on the past, present, and future of American culture and the performing arts,” said Michelle Ebanks, president and CEO of the Apollo.

The 47th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, airing Sunday, December 22, on CBS