We’re also supporting programs that bring musicians from other countries here to the United States. That includes four women from Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, and the United States, who met through an exchange and went on to blend their traditional techniques together in the band LADAMA, and you will hear them a little bit later in the program. (Applause.)
Now, tonight, with the partnership of Chairman McCaul, we’re opening a new chapter of music diplomacy by launching the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative. This initiative will use music to support inclusive economic growth, to expand access to education, to build more resilient societies, and will start with three new efforts.
First, the State Department will begin a new partnership with the Recording Academy. Together we’ll start a mentorship program to bring producers, sound engineers, talent agents, festival promoters, other music professionals together with leading experts in those fields from the United States. We’ll also launch the Peace Through Music Award to celebrate Americans who are using music to support cultural exchange and grow mutual understanding between people across the planet. Tonight, we’ll recognize our inaugural awardee.
Second, the State Department is formally incorporating music into the English language classes that we offer around the world. This is one of our most popular programs. So we’re going to include American songs and lyrics in the curriculum. We’ll share our diverse culture. We’ll help students improve their English fluency.
Finally, we’re creating a new Fulbright Award for an artist in residence at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. There we’ll have artists and scientists from other nations teaming up with Americans and exploring how to use art to benefit our people, our environment, and our societies.
In the months and years ahead, we’ll keep working with our partners to grow this initiative, to foster more collaboration between musicians and music lovers, to strengthen the ties that bind nations together. In music and in diplomacy, we always are able to accomplish so much more together than any one of us could do alone. Or as someone put it probably better: We get by with a little help from our friends. (Laughter.)
Now, it’s my pleasure to welcome to the stage the CEO of the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason, Jr. (Applause.)
MR MASON: Good evening, everyone. It’s great to be here. How cool is it that we have a musician here in Secretary Blinken? This is incredible. (Applause.) What an honor. Thank you for hosting us and thank you for shining a light on the massive power of music as an instrument of peace.
On behalf of the Recording Academy and all of our members, we’re honored and excited about our partnership and its potential to positively impact the world. Tonight, in furthering the Peace Through Music Act and our partnership with the U.S. Department of State, it’s my honor to announce the establishment of the Peace Through Music Award. Usually we celebrate through our GRAMMY Awards, but this very special award recognizes and honors an American music industry professional, artist, or group that has played an invaluable role in cross-cultural exchanges and whose music and work advance peace and mutual understanding around the globe.
While there are many deserving Americans of this award, one person stood out as the perfect inaugural recipient. This esteemed individual served as music director and trumpeter for Jazz Ambassador Dizzy Gillespie during his overseas tours in the 1960s. He’s partnered with the State Department more recently through Jazz Ambassadors Redux. And while his heart and history were rooted in jazz, he expanded his works to include numerous genres of music. He produced the best-selling record of all time. He’s mentored young artists. He’s provided an encore to more seasoned artists. He’s a 28-time GRAMMY Award winner. Geez. (Laughter.) His accolades and impacts go way beyond what I can say with just these words. His work, his actions continue to advance peace through music, and I am sure they will for generations to come.
It’s my true honor to recognize my friend and mentor, Mr. Quincy Jones, as the first-ever recipient of what will now and into the future be known as the Quincy Jones Peace Through Music Award. (Applause.)
While Quincy could not join us tonight, it is my sincere honor to welcome his daughter, Rashida Jones, via video to accept this award on his behalf. (Applause.)
MS JONES: Hi, I’m Rashida Jones, and on behalf of my father, Quincy Jones, it’s an honor to accept the Peace Through Music Award. Thank you so much to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Harvey Mason, Jr. and the GRAMMYs for this extraordinary honor.
My father was actually one of the very first jazz ambassadors named by the State Department to travel around the world promoting peace and understanding through music. And this experience has enduringly informed how he lives his life, how he approaches music and people. His exposure to different cultures and languages and experiences so young has truly had a lasting impact on the way he lives his life and handles his career. Quincy believes in the global community, the far-reaching impact of connectivity in music. And we hope that this award inspires others to do the same – to remember that we’re in this together and that we truly are a global community.
So again, behalf of the Jones family and specifically Quincy, it’s a real honor and we’re so grateful. Thank you so much. (Applause.)
MR MASON: And now it’s my privilege to welcome the chairman of the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, David Rubenstein. (Applause.)
MR RUBENSTEIN: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for inviting us here, and thank you for inviting us to use this wonderful Benjamin Franklin Room for the Kennedy Center Honors every year. Now that the writers’ strike seems to be behind us, it seems like we’re going to have it in December. So thank you and I hope you’ll enjoy the honorees we have this year, many of whom are great musical artists.
It was more than 50 years ago that the National Cultural Center was established in Washington, and it was established in honor of President Kennedy, who gave his life for this country. And it was established in his honor because he believed in the importance of bringing people together through the arts, and he was a lover of the arts. And one of his great legacies that he left us is the Kennedy Center and what it does for humanity.
In his inaugural address, he ended it by saying, “With…good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on Earth God’s work must truly be our own.” Clearly what diplomats in this building are doing is God’s work on Earth, but by doing it as well with the musicians behind them and with them, we think you can do it even better.
So, Mr. Secretary, thank you for honoring the Kennedy Center with a Fulbright scholar. Thank you, Congressman McCaul, for making this possible. And it’s my real privilege to be here and to see all of you and to let you know that the Kennedy Center is welcoming all of you, and anytime you ever want to come to the Kennedy Center and enjoy live music, let us know.
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