MARC BAMUTHI JOSEPH
SMOOTH MOVES
The multihyphenate artist and national creative leader is The Kennedy Center’s first VP and artistic director of social impact.
ALWAYS IN MOTION
The bicoastal talent is prepping for the opening of the REACH expansion in September.
“A conversation with Simone Eccleston, the director of hip-hop programming at The Kennedy Center, convinced me that this [new role] was right for me. I was inspired: We are in a political moment in our history, where understanding of humanity is a point of emphasis for art. The center is an important place of leverage for that. I’m an educator who performs and administrates. They all emanate from one value system that wants to see a more inclusive, engaged world. But the question is how to show that art is a tool in cultivating creative agency? My position... isn’t just about engagement, but empowerment and answering that. For many years, the center has been a place for witness. But with the REACH, we become a place for animation of the public imagination. I appreciate the scale of the opportunity and that we traffic in the aesthetics of sublime. I love the people, the context and the stakes.” kennedy-center.org
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