section_path: Culture/Arts
section_name: Arts
paragraph_text: Arts
  
  Washington, D.C., is a national center for the arts, home to several concert halls and theaters. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is home to National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, and the Washington Ballet. The Kennedy Center Honors are awarded each year to those in the performing arts who have contributed greatly to the cultural life of the United States. This ceremony is often attended by the sitting U.S. president and other dignitaries and celebrities. The Kennedy Center also awards the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
  
  The historic Ford's Theatre, the site of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, continues to function as a theatre and as a museum.
  
  The Marine Barracks near Capitol Hill houses the United States Marine Band; founded in 1798, it is the country's oldest professional musical organization. American march composer and Washington-native John Philip Sousa led the Marine Band from 1880 until 1892. Founded in 1925, the United States Navy Band has its headquarters at the Washington Navy Yard and performs at official events and public concerts around the city.
  
  Founded in 1950, Arena Stage achieved national attention and spurred growth in the city's independent theater movement, which now includes the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and Studio Theatre. Arena Stage reopened after a renovation and expansion in the city's emerging Southwest waterfront area in 2010. The GALA Hispanic Theatre, now housed in the historic Tivoli Theatre in Columbia Heights, was founded in 1976 and is a National Center for the Latino Performing Arts.
  
  Other performing arts spaces in the city include the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Federal Triangle, the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street, the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Rock Creek Park, Constitution Hall in Downtown, the Keegan Theatre in Dupont Circle, the Lisner Auditorium in Foggy Bottom, the Sylvan Theater on the National Mall, and the Warner Theatre in Penn Quarter. National Theatre in Downtown, which opened in 1835, is the second-longest continuously operating theater in the nation after Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, which opened in 1808.
  
  U Street Corridor in Northwest is home to Howard Theatre and Lincoln Theatre, which hosted music legends such as Washington, D.C. natives Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis. Just east of U Street is Shaw, which also served as a major cultural center during the jazz age. Intersecting with U Street is Fourteenth Street, which was an extension of the U Street cultural corridor during the 1920s through the 1960s. The collection of Fourteenth Street, U Street, and Shaw was the location of the Black Renaissance in D.C., which was part of the larger Harlem Renaissance. The area starting at Fourteenth Street downtown going north through U Street and east to Shaw boasts a high concentration of bars, restaurants, and theaters, and is among the city's most notable cultural and artistic areas.
  
  The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), a group of more than 65 film critics, holds an annual awards ceremony.