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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm FaithLapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.,serves as a national home for the performing arts. Now the centerwants to do more to bring those arts to children.

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VOICE ONE:

Last month the Kennedy Centerannounced plans to spend one hundred twenty-five million dollars onperforming arts education. The program will be developed over afive-year period. The center will receive both government andprivate money for this effort.

Plans include opening a new Family Theater at the Kennedy Centerat the end of this year. Performances from there will be seen laterin schools around America.

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The president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the PerformingArts, Michael Kaiser, announced the expanded education program.Mister Kaiser says the Kennedy Center has been working on developingits program with officials of more than one hundred schools. MisterKaiser says that if people are trained in the arts while they areyoung, they will be interested as adults.

A major research organization came out with a report last monthabout public policy toward the arts. The Rand Corporation saysinterest in the arts is of more than just economic value; it helpscreate better citizens. The report calls for placing greaterimportance on creating demand for the arts. It says the way to dothat is to introduce more people, especially young people, toexperiences with the arts.

VOICE ONE:

Educators say children who study the arts are more likely to dowell in other subjects and to become student leaders. Yet in recentyears many schools have reduced arts education.

During the nineteen nineties, research found that less than halfof middle school students in the United States studied the arts. Andsome of the programs they did have were not very good.

In nineteen ninety-seven, an agency of the Department ofEducation studied thousands of eighth graders. The NationalAssessment of Education said the students were not as well trainedin arts as they should have been.

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VOICE TWO:

The Kennedy Center will develop shows to be presented to youngpeople around the nation. Two organizations will finance thateffort. They are Disney Theatrical Productions and Music TheaterInternational.

First, children will take part in musical shows. The shows willbe presented in the Family Theater that the Kennedy Center plans toopen this December. Then the productions will travel to schoolsaround the United States. Local children, not theater professionals,will produce the shows. Educators will examine the effects of takingpart in the productions on the learning skills of the performers.

VOICE ONE:

The government is to finance the new theater for ten milliondollars. To create it, one hundred twenty seats will be added to anexisting theater. There will be a new public waiting area anddressing rooms for performers.

Some other new Kennedy Center projects are electronic. Forexample, a new Web site will offer jazz music and tell about itshistory. This site is to be ready in two years.

Another new site on the Internet will present a history ofperforming arts. It will offer performances and stories about theperformances. That site is to be ready in three years.

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The Kennedy Center already presents many shows for children atthe center and in schools. Its president, Michael Kaiser, says theadditional programs will bring the Kennedy Center education budgetto forty million dollars. Center officials say this will be thelargest amount spent for education by any American artsorganization.

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VOICE ONE:

The Kennedy Center is a memorialto John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He was the thirty-fifth president of theUnited States. It is also the official national performing artscenter. Each year about two million people see music, dance, dramaand other performances at the Kennedy Center.

And three million people come just to see the big white buildingitself. In the Hall of States, for example, they pass beneath theflags of all the American states and territories. In the Hall ofNations are the flags of more than one hundred sixty countries.

Visitors also see the works of art and other gifts that more thanforty countries have given to the Kennedy Center. And people canlearn about the life of President Kennedy and listen to some of hisspeeches.

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Efforts to build a cultural centerin Washington began before John Kennedy was elected president innineteen sixty. In nineteen fifty-eight, President Dwight Eisenhowersigned the National Cultural Center Act. He said the United Statesneeded a place to show its artistic successes.

One of the earliest problems was finding a place for thebuilding. Directors of the center chose an area on the edge of thePotomac River called Foggy Bottom. Some people worried that thebuilding would sink into the soft ground. It hasn't yet.

VOICE ONE:

Another problem was money. The cultural center needed to collectmillions of dollars in private gifts. The government promised togive an amount equal to the money raised.

After President Kennedy took office in nineteen sixty-one, hecampaigned for the national cultural center. His wife, Jacqueline,helped raise money for the center. So did Mamie Eisenhower, the wifeof the former president.

On November twenty-second, nineteen sixty-three, PresidentKennedy was shot to death as he rode in an open car in Dallas,Texas. Congress soon declared the cultural center a memorial to him.

VOICE TWO:

Still, it was not easy to get enough money for the KennedyCenter. Center officials had to have more than fifteen milliondollars by June thirtieth, nineteen sixty-five. If that did nothappen, then they would not receive money from the government. Theywould not be able to build the center. Most of June passed, and thecampaign still had not reached its goal.

Then on June twenty-ninth the people of Italy gave more than onemillion dollars worth of marble to build the center. Other countriesalso gave money. These gifts rescued the project.

VOICE ONE:

Building finally began on the John F. Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts in nineteen sixty-seven. Four years later, thecompleted Kennedy Center stood along the Potomac River. ArchitectEdward Durrell Stone had designed a simple and beautiful building.It cost about seventy million dollars.

Opening night at the Kennedy Center was September eighth,nineteen seventy-one. Guests heard a new musical work composed andconducted by Leonard Bernstein. He wrote "Mass" to honor PresidentKennedy. Here, from Bernstein's "Mass," is "Gloria Tibi."

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VOICE TWO:

Some of the world's finest artists have appeared at the KennedyCenter over the years.

Classical musicians like pianist Vladimir Horowitz and violinistIsaac Stern have played there. So have jazz performers like BennyGoodman and Sarah Vaughan.

These days, Placido Domingo, one of the world's best knowntenors, sometimes sings there. He is also the general director ofthe Washington National Opera, which performs at the Kennedy CenterOpera House.

VOICE ONE:

Long before the Kennedy Center was built, President Eisenhowersaid America needed a place to show its artistry. Now the centerwants to help build more interest in the arts into the lives ofyoung America.

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VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by CatyWeaver. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for THIS ISAMERICA in VOA Special English.