Andy Garcia, David Foster, Paul Anka Lead 2026 Kennedy Center Honors

By Daniel Okafor

Andy Garcia, David Foster, Paul Anka, David Mamet and Barbara Mandrell will receive the 2026 Kennedy Center Honors, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Board of Trustees and President Trump announced Monday. It's the 49th class of honorees. The gala takes place Dec. 7 at Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Capitol One Arena in Washington, D.C. — a notable shift from the Center's own opera house stage to a hockey-and-concert venue.

The lifetime achievement award goes to figures considered among the most influential in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures and television.

"We are recognizing amazing artists whose lifelong work has shaped American culture and inspired generations of audiences," Trump said in a statement. "We are proud to honor this year's class and to continue a tradition that has defined the Center for nearly 50 years."

Who made the 2026 class?

• Andy Garcia, honored for acting, directing and music producing. He earned Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor as Vincent Corleone in The Godfather: Part III, holds a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, and premiered his film Diamond — written, directed and starring himself — at this year's Cannes Film Festival. He co-wrote its score with Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval.
• David Foster, a composer one Emmy shy of EGOT status (the clean sweep of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony). He has won 16 Grammys and one Golden Globe, with three Oscar nominations. He wrote the music for Boop! The Musical, the Betty Boop adaptation that opened on Broadway in 2025 and now heads on a U.S. national tour.
• Paul Anka, a member of both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. He wrote "My Way" for Frank Sinatra and "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson" theme — the longest-running theme in television history. His first hit came at 15, with 1957's "Diana." He released Inspirations of Life and Love this year.
• David Mamet, the Pulitzer-winning playwright of Glengarry Glen Ross (1984), Oscar-nominated for the screenplays of The Verdict and Wag the Dog, with a career spanning more than five decades, plus films (Homicide, The Spanish Prisoner, State and Main) and a shelf of novels and nonfiction.
• Barbara Mandrell, the multi-instrumentalist who played accordion and steel guitar by age 11, toured as a teenager with The Johnny Cash Show, and stacked up Number One country hits including "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" and "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool."

What distinguishes the honorees?

Mandrell's trophy case may be the deepest of the five. She won the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year twice, took the Academy of Country Music's Pioneer Award in 2000, and entered the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999 — two years after retiring. In 2009 she became the only woman inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, the same year she joined the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Musicians Hall of Fame followed in 2014.

Foster's collaborator list reads like a Grammys telegraph: Streisand, Houston, Jackson, Madonna, Bocelli, Chicago, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind & Fire, Dolly Parton and roughly a dozen more. Anka, for his part, also wrote for Connie Francis, Lesley Gore and Buddy Holly.

The Dec. 7 gala will test whether a tradition honed in the Kennedy Center Opera House transfers to a 20,000-seat arena — and, with a sitting president back on the honorary committee, whether the honors can keep politics quietly in the lobby.