Changes

The announcement is made in late summer, usually after the Labor Day Weekend.  The ceremony is held the first weekend of December.  Highlights from the fundraising performance are televised in a two-hour special produced by Stevens on [[CBS]] television between Christmas and the New Year.

The announcement is made in late summer, usually after the Labor Day Weekend.  The ceremony is held the first weekend of December.  Highlights from the fundraising performance are televised in a two-hour special produced by Stevens on [[CBS]] television between Christmas and the New Year.

For the Honors to succeed as a television show and fundraiser, the honorees must be well-known performing artists.  In 2012, Felix Sanchez, chairman of the [[National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts]] called [[Michael M. Kaiser]], President of the Kennedy Center, in an effort to pressure the Kennedy Center into honoring more hispanic artists.  After Kaiser hung up the phone on Sanchez, Sanchez called up the Washington media and reported that Kaiser had told him to "f--- yourself".  Kaiser subsequently apologized to Sanchez for his language, but denies that the Kennedy Center is discriminating against hispanics.  In 2002, it honored [[Chita Rivera]] and in 2000 it honored [[Placido Domingo]].  Sanchez told the ''Washington Post'', "I still think the Kennedy Center has to acknowledge the exclusion and make a commitment to some systematic changes with the show...."<ref>{{cite news|title=Kennedy Center head apologizes for language|first=David|last=Montgomery|work=Washington Post|page=C1|date=September 29, 2012}}</ref>

For the Honors to succeed as a television show and fundraiser, the honorees must be well-known performing artists.  In 2012, Felix Sanchez, chairman of the [[National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts]] called [[Michael M. Kaiser]], President of the Kennedy Center, in an effort to pressure the Kennedy Center into honoring more Hispanic artists.  After Kaiser hung up the phone on Sanchez, Sanchez called up the Washington media and reported that Kaiser had told him to "f--- yourself".  Kaiser subsequently apologized to Sanchez for his language, but denies that the Kennedy Center is discriminating against Hispanics.  In 2002, it honored [[Chita Rivera]] and in 2000 it honored [[Placido Domingo]].  Sanchez told the ''Washington Post'', "I still think the Kennedy Center has to acknowledge the exclusion and make a commitment to some systematic changes with the show...."<ref>{{cite news|title=Kennedy Center head apologizes for language|first=David|last=Montgomery|work=Washington Post|page=C1|date=September 29, 2012}}</ref>

==The events==

==The events==