Deborah F. Rutter
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
President
Deborah Rutter began as President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in September, 2014, and serves as artistic and administrative director of the center.
She is a graduate of Stanford University and holds an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California. She was the orchestra manager of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 1986, she started serving as executive director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In 1992, she became Executive Director of the Seattle Symphony. In 2003, Ms. Rutter became President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association.
In her first year at the Kennedy Center, Rutter broke ground on a transformative arts facility, the REACH, which provides flexible indoor and outdoor performance space to nurture new art, community, innovation, arts education, and informal encounters between the artist and the public.
Today, Ms. Rutter is reshaping Kennedy Center offerings to include more artist-led programming while challenging people across the industry to reimagine creative expression through the lens of cross-disciplinary collaborations. In 2018, she launched the cutting-edge festival of contemporary culture, DIRECT CURRENT, an annual series spotlighting new and interdisciplinary art.
Working at the vanguard of community engagement, Ms. Rutter manages one of the nation’s most extensive arts education networks.
She is a graduate of Stanford University and holds an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California. She was the orchestra manager of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 1986, she started serving as executive director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In 1992, she became Executive Director of the Seattle Symphony. In 2003, Ms. Rutter became President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association.
In her first year at the Kennedy Center, Rutter broke ground on a transformative arts facility, the REACH, which provides flexible indoor and outdoor performance space to nurture new art, community, innovation, arts education, and informal encounters between the artist and the public.
Today, Ms. Rutter is reshaping Kennedy Center offerings to include more artist-led programming while challenging people across the industry to reimagine creative expression through the lens of cross-disciplinary collaborations. In 2018, she launched the cutting-edge festival of contemporary culture, DIRECT CURRENT, an annual series spotlighting new and interdisciplinary art.
Working at the vanguard of community engagement, Ms. Rutter manages one of the nation’s most extensive arts education networks.
