Fulbright/Kennedy Center Fellowship for Performing Arts and Science

The Fulbright / Kennedy Center Fellowship for Performing Arts and Science places Fulbright Visiting Scholars at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. to connect with artists, staff, educators, and audiences. The Fellowship was launched in support of the U.S. Department of State’s Global Music Diplomacy Initiative and coincides with the Kennedy Center’s expanded focus on arts and wellbeing, as well as arts and the environment.

Kennedy Fellows standing with Gilda Almeida and Alicia Adams at Kennedy Center.

Advancing Cultural Understanding Through Arts Exchanges

The Fulbright / Kennedy Center Fellowship for Performing Arts and Science is a component of the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program providing international scholars with opportunities to learn from and collaborate with one of the premiere institutions of the United States, and participate in international events such as the Kennedy Center’s Earth to Space festival. The award supports research and innovative multidisciplinary projects that address the connections between the performing arts, the environment, health, and wellbeing. These three- to six-month projects enable the fellows to make a greater impact in their home countries and the international arts community.

This Fulbright / Kennedy Center Fellowship reinforces the Fulbright Program’s long history of supporting creative and performing artists.

Inaugural Fellows are Working to Advance Peace and Sustainability

Two Fulbright Visiting Scholars arrived in fall 2024 to conduct professional research and training with host colleagues at the Center.

Music has a key role in bridging divided societies. As a Fulbright / Kennedy Center Fellow, I’ll study the reactions and emotions of composers, musicians, and audience members during the music making process to see how music can mediate understanding between people of different social, ethnic, religious, or political backgrounds.”

Adriana Jaramillo
Fulbright / Kennedy Center Fellow from Colombia, 2024-25

Adriana Jaramillo, a clinical psychology scholar and education specialist from Colombia, is collaborating with Kennedy Center’s Arts & Wellbeing department. Her project, Music Journeys for Peace, focuses on how the healing power of the arts advances peace in divided societies. Jaramillo has worked in conflict zones around the world, and has served as the Deputy Director of Family Welfare in Colombia. She has also held positions as a professor and as an educational advisor to the World Bank. Her most recent publication, Through the Looking Glass, presents the last 100 years in Colombia through the history of Colombian art. Her work has led her to understand the critical role that the arts have in promoting understanding, dialogue, and mediation in divided societies. Her Fulbright / Kennedy Center research on the healing power of music will inform the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra’s current peace initiatives and school-based programs.

I am looking into how music, dance, performing arts, and cinema could be used as instruments for communicating about environmental sciences. By using the arts to raise awareness, we can foster a deeper connection to environmental issues, reach a wider audience, and inspire genuine care for our Earth.”

Eder Zanetti
Fulbright / Kennedy Center Fellow from Brazil, 2024-25

Eder Zanetti, a forest scientist, engineer, and environmental journalist from Brazil, will collaborate with the Kennedy Center’s International Programming department on his project, Green Education for a Sustainable Planet. Zanetti has been studying climate change and biodiversity to advise corporations on green infrastructure planning. For the past few years, he has discussed these topics on the podcast and radio show that he hosts, Sustainable Planet, which is available in English and Portuguese. At the Kennedy Center, he is investigating how music, poetry, dance, comedy, theater, cinema, and hip-hop can expand education efforts on environmental sustainability. The Kennedy Center’s upcoming Earth to Space festival will also contribute to his engagement in environmental planning for space exploration.

At the Kennedy Center, Kate Villa, director of Comedy and Institutional Programming for the Kennedy Center’s Arts & Wellbeing department will host Adriana Jaramillo. Gilda Almedia, Director of International Programming, will host Eder Zanetti. Alicia Adams, Vice President of Dance and International Programming, is overseeing the Fellowship Program.

“As America’s national cultural center, fostering international dialogue and learning through the arts is fundamentally important to our work, and I am proud to deepen our longstanding partnership with the State Department through this new Fulbright / Kennedy Center Fellowship. The fact that the fellowship focuses on the intersection of art and science is particularly exciting, as we continue to study the profound impact the arts have on our wellbeing, as well as our understanding of science and the world around us.”

Deborah F. Rutter
President, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

The Kennedy Center and the Department of State have a longstanding relationship that stretches back to the Center’s founding more than 50 years ago. The Secretary of State serves as an Ex-Officio Member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees and the Center partners very closely with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs on various issues and projects. The Center also works closely with the State Department to advance cultural diplomacy initiatives both in Washington and abroad.

Art connects us – one human being to another – transcending differences of language, of geography, of background, of belief. . . . [M]usic – like dance, like sculpture, like comedy – captures what’s unique and essential about our countries and our cultures, even as it binds us together through something universal.  We could use more connection, we could use more empathy, we could use more understanding in the world around us.”

Antony J. Blinken
U.S. Secretary of State
Kennedy Center Honors Dinner in December 2023

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Kennedy Center building at night

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is America’s living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, attracting millions of visitors each year to more than 2,000 performances, events, and exhibits. With its artistic affiliates, the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, the Center is one of the nation’s busiest performing arts centers dedicated to providing world-class art, powerful education, and outstanding memorial experiences to the broadest possible constituency. Across all its offerings, the Kennedy Center is committed to increasing accessible, inclusive opportunities for all people to participate in, and learn through the arts. The Kennedy Center has committed to a decade of environmentally themed programming and is exploring ways in which the Center itself can operate in a more sustainable way.

More on Fulbright, the Performing Arts, and the Kennedy Center

Fulbright alums have had an impact on the arts that spans disciplines and generations. Some Fulbright artists are household names, while others are rising talents, working in creative fields including the performing arts, journalism and writing, architecture and public art, and visual arts. These artists have inspired and connected individuals and communities across the world, and their works and legacies demonstrate the power and importance of the arts in today’s world and through the ages.

Distinguished Fulbright alums have been honored at the Kennedy Center for lifetime artistic achievements, including soprano Renée Fleming, composer Philip Glass, playwright Edward Albee, and composer Aaron Copland.

Headshot of person

Fulbright Alum Renée Fleming Named Kennedy Center Honoree

Renée Fleming, Fulbrighter to Germany, was one of five outstanding artists to receive the Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements at the 46th annual Kennedy Center Honors ceremony on December 3, 2023. David M. Rubenstein, the Kennedy Center Chairman, said Fleming was selected because as “America’s soprano,” she captivates “audiences worldwide with her luminous voice, incomparable artistry, and a knack for bringing opera into the mainstream.”

Christopher Tin at piano

Composer Brings World Music Influence to Concert, Film, Video Games, and Opera

In 2024, Fulbright alum Christopher Tin made an impressive debut in the opera world when he was commissioned to compose a new ending for the reimagined production of Giacomo Puccini’s venerable opera Turandot, which premiered at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Kennedy Center at night

Fulbright Celebrated its 75th Anniversary at the Kennedy Center

The Fulbright Program celebrated its 75th anniversary throughout 2021, culminating in a spectacular event at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Alumni, friends, and supporters joined virtually to celebrate and to look ahead to the exciting future of the U.S. government’s flagship program of educational and cultural exchange. The event included personal stories and performances by some of Fulbright’s most extraordinary alumni, including recent participants and those who have had long and distinguished careers.