Deborah Rutter leaving Kennedy Center at end of this year
Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter. Photo: Elman Studio
Deborah F. Rutter announced her decision on Monday to step down as president of the Kennedy Center, a position she has held since 2014, effective at the end of 2025. The institution’s board of trustees has formed a search committee to hire her successor. As announced last November, David M. Rubenstein, himself hoping to retire, agreed to remain as chairman of the board through September 2026.
“After more than 10 extraordinary years in Washington, collaborating with some of the most phenomenal artists, cultural leaders, diplomats, philanthropists, volunteers, and administrators, I have come to believe it is time to pass the torch,” said Rutter. “It has been a great honor to work with the best in the world. It is time now to hand this truly unique institution to a new leader who will take the power and majesty of the arts to the next level.”
During Rutter’s tenure as the first woman to lead the Kennedy Center, many things have changed at the federal city’s leading arts institution. She presided over the expansion of its campus, inaugurating the new set of buildings called The Reach, and she played an important role in the hiring of Gianandrea Noseda as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra. Rutter also expanded programming far beyond the original conception of the institution, notably introducing offerings in hip hop and social impact as two central areas of programming. Performances of stand-up comedy and Broadway musicals have also been increased, the latter as the number of opera productions dwindled.
Rutter, 68, agreed to stay on for a few months after the end of her contract this August, to help smooth the transition. Under Rutter’s leadership, the Kennedy Center has grown its operating budget (expenses) to $268 million. Earned revenues have likewise grown to $125 million, in addition to $95 million in contributed funds; $45 million in federal appropriations for the operation, maintenance, and improvement of the memorial; and a $4 million draw from the endowment in Fiscal Year 2024.
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