Biden appoints LA County Supervisor Solis to Kennedy Center board

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis was appointed by President Joe Biden to the Kennedy Center board of trustees in recognition of her advocacy for under-served communities and people of color, officials said Monday.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosts performances that are made available to the broadest possible audience, and creates arts education opportunities nationwide.

Solis — Biden’s first Kennedy Center appointment — has fought for equitable resources for disadvantaged groups in sectors including environmental justice, community building, public safety, housing, workforce development, and arts and culture, Kennedy Center officials said.

She also helped lead efforts to ensure people in the county have equitable access to arts and culture, and improve “inclusion in the wider arts ecology for all residents.” New York’s Kennedy Center is making similar efforts on a national level and working to foster anti-racism across the performing arts through various social impact initiatives, officials said.

Solis said she was honored to be appointed “at a critical time where arts education is essential to building vibrant and thriving communities.”

She said the Kennedy Center “enriches the lives of Americans across the nation and I am humbled to join in the mission of the Board of Trustees to inspire and enrich communities through art. My work to develop and advance Los Angeles County’s Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative over the years is a testament to my commitment to ensuring all Angelenos, regardless of where they live, have access to the arts. I look forward to uplifting this work at the national level so that Americans across our country can benefit from increased equity and access.”