Expect this year’s Kennedy Center Honors ceremony to be a doozy. The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts has just announced that the ranks of 2015’s honorees have swelled to include six lifetime achievers. This marks the first time that the Kennedy Center has honored more than five individuals that have dedicated themselves to the arts in some shape or form at the annual award ceremony.
The Kennedy Center will honor George Lucas for creating “films have enriched our world with stories of epic adventure,” and Cicely Tyson for her “range of strong female roles on stage and screen have broken boundaries for women of color.” Rounding out the film and TV roster is actress Rita Moreno, who will presumably make this award the cherry on her EGOT sundae.
The other three recipients all come from the music world: The Eagles, for having made music for over four decades (regardless of quality), and Carole King, who will be lauded for her songwriting. Seiji Ozawa, a kind of celebrity orchestra conductor (they exist), will join them on stage.
The medals will be handed out on December 5 at a State Department dinner hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry, who will be joined by President Obama and the First Lady at the December 6 gala that will be broadcast on New Year’s Eve eve. All that’s missing is the Galactic Senate.