Deborah Rutter, president of the Kennedy Center in D.C. since 2014, said Monday that she will be stepping down from her leadership role at the end of the year.
The venue’s chair, David Rubenstein, will continue to lead its board committee through September 2026, during the search for Rutter’s successor.
The Kennedy Center, which hosts more than 2,000 performances every year, was guided by Rutter’s leadership for more than a decade.
In a statement released Monday, Rutter said she felt it was “time to pass the torch.”
“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,” she wrote.
In her first month as the president of the popular performing arts center, Rutter said she was thinking of ways to break down barriers between artists and audiences to foster more interaction. By the end of 2014, she facilitated breaking ground on “the REACH,” an interactive arts facility and $250 million campus expansion.
She also oversaw the venue’s yearslong development of “Art and Ideals: President John F. Kennedy,” a permanent 7,500-square-foot exhibit, which has been attracted more than 1 million visitors since opening in 2022. .
Rutter led the center through the pandemic, closing for 18 months and losing millions in ticket revenue, and coming out on the other side with a more diversified performance list and new antiracist initiatives.
“Fortunately, Deborah will serve as president for all this year, providing extraordinary leadership as she has over the past decade. Filling Deborah’s shoes will be a daunting task for the board,” Rubenstein said in the statement.
In September of last year, musicians from the National Symphony Orchestra reached a tentative labor agreement with the center with an 18-month, $1.8 million contract. Dozens of musicians had held a brief strike advocating for better wages on par with other orchestra members throughout the country. In addition to the wage increase, the agreement also expanded health care options, paid parental leave, updates to audition and tenure processes and funding for another position.
In an interview with the New York Times, Rutter noted that the center was looking forward to working with the new administration and that most of the board was already made up of the president’s appointees.
In addition to the Chicago Symphony, Rutter has held executive roles at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Seattle Symphony.
WTOP’s Jeff Clabaugh contributed to this report.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
