Midler, Gordy Among New Kennedy Center Honorees
Voice of America
WASHINGTON - The Kennedy Center Honors will return in December with a class that includes Motown Records creator Berry Gordy, "Saturday Night Live" mastermind Lorne Michaels and actress-singer Bette Midler.
Organizers expect to operate at full capacity, after last year's ceremony was delayed for months and later conducted under COVID-19 restrictions. This 44th class of honorees for lifetime achievement in the creative arts is heavy on musical performers. The honorees also include opera singer Justino Diaz and folk music legend Joni Mitchell. All will be honored on December 5 with a trademark program that includes personalized tributes and performances that are kept secret from the honorees.Engineer Guillermo D. Christy photographs a steel pillar filled with concrete that was installed inside the Aktun Tuyul cave system to support the Maya Train track on the outskirts of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, March 3, 2024. A passenger looks at the passing jungle landscape while traveling on the Maya Train from Cancun to Valladolid, Mexico, March 6, 2024. When it's completed, the high-speed Maya Train will wind around Mexico's southern Yucatan peninsula. A line of the Mayan Train is built using material dug out from the nearby tropical forest near Playa del Carmen, Mexico, March 1, 2024. When it's completed, the high-speed Maya Train will wind around Mexico's southern Yucatan peninsula. Workers build a Maya Train railway track near Playa del Carmen, Mexico, March 10, 2024. Engineer Guillermo D. Christy shows his hand stained with rust after touching a steel pillar in the Aktun Tuyul cave system. Construction of the Maya Train is rapidly destroying much of the hidden underground world of caverns and sinkhole lakes. A Mayan Train worker waits for passengers to board in Cancun, Mexico, March 6, 2024. ight shines through a hole made by massive metal drills to introduce a steel pillar filled with concrete that will be used to support a part of the Maya Train track, inside the Aktun Tuyul cave system on the outskirts of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, March 3, 2024. A hat sits on a Maya Train passenger seat en route to Valladolid, Mexico, Wednesday, March 6, 2024.
A thermometer showing 29° C (84.2° F), is seen hanging from a wall in the shadow, during the first heat alert of the year, on a hot spring day, in a street in Ronda, Spain, May 30, 2024. A man carries a child with its head covered with a towel to protect it from the heat in Jammu, India, June 2, 2024. A street is flooded by the river Schmutter, following heavy rainfalls in Fischach, near Augsburg, Germany, June 1, 2024.
Director Lou Ye is pictured during a photo call for the film "An Unfinished Film," presented as part of Special Screenings at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 17, 2024. From left, producer Philippe Bober, producer Yingli Ma, director Lou Ye, actor Hao Qin and actor Huang Xuan are pictured during a photo call for "An Unfinished Film" at the Cannes Film Festival in France, May 17, 2024. FILE - Chinese artist Ai Weiwei takes pictures in front of his pieces displayed during the press preview for the exhibition "Ai Weiwei: Making Sense" at the Design Museum in London, April 4, 2023. FILE - In this May 30, 2019, photo, a computer screen shows web content from outside China, including a clip of Chinese singer Li Zhi singing his song "The Square."