Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Kennedy Center Honors Dinner

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Mr. President, welcome to the State Department.  (Laughter.)  We love to have you here in this beautiful ballroom, and we’re very excited about it.  Of course, it’s not nearly as big as the one we’re going to have in about a year and a half for the country.  (Laughter.)  And – but thank you for being here tonight. 

And it’s an extraordinary honor to be here with all of you to welcome you here to this room and to this place.  One of the great American exports is our culture and our talent.  It inspires the world.  And tonight we honor four honorees – five when you include a group as well who have been such a – internationally given America such prominence.  They have represented our country well. 

It is one of the great things that we have done; it’s one of the things that people don’t talk about it enough.  They call it soft power, but what it really means is the influence of our culture and the influence of our talented people and how it inspires people around the world.  In many cases, the first thing that people learn about our country is through our culture, through our entertainment, be it our movies or our television, or our music, or our musicals, or our bands, or our actors. 

And so we are grateful and honored to be able to host this event tonight on the eve of tomorrow’s ceremonies and tomorrow’s celebration of this incredible American talent, and to partner, as has been done for many years, with the Kennedy Center, which is under extraordinary new leadership.  You guys are doing a phenomenal job, both in fundraising – (applause) – and it’s something the President, as Ambassador Grenell will tell you shortly, has really made a priority, and that is to restore it to a place of greatness where the beauty of American culture, where things are exhibited to the world, and obviously here in this city as well.

So it’s my honor now to turn it over to Ambassador Grenell, who will tell you more about all the exciting things that are happening at the Kennedy Center.  So thank you so much for being here tonight and thank you for the opportunity to host this year.  Thank you.  (Applause.)