City’s cultural collaborators

It was one of the cultural events of the year. Literary lion Philip Roth received this year’s PEN/Faulkner Award For Fiction for his novel “Everyman” last month. Joining him on the stage were three of the finalists, some of the country’s best short story writers. Intellectual celebrities, such as actor and playwright Wallace Shawn, dotted the mingling crowd.

This celebration of serious fiction didn’t take place in New York, the country’s publishing capital, however — it was right here in the District.

It wasn’t even the only event last month that brought the cultural cognoscenti to Washington. Paul Simon received the first annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Performers at the star-studded gala at the Warner Theatre included Stevie Wonder and Philip Glass.

When you think of an arts and culture destination, you probably think New York or Los Angeles. “D.C. is known really for its political and news media celebrities more than anything else,” notes Library of Congress director of communications Matt Raymond.

That’s starting to change. AmericanStyle magazine just named Washington the fourth-best arts destination among big cities — ahead of, among others, Los Angeles.

Washington’s long-established institutions — public and private — are exploiting their vast resources, bringing culture out of dark museums and libraries and into the public eye. Big events, like star-studded award ceremonies and themed festivals, are savvy promotional “gimmicks” drawing attention to D.C.’s increasing status as a cultural capital.

The PEN/Faulkner Award is 27 years old, and as respected as any honor handed out in New York.

“I think it’s the best of the prizes,” says Mr. Roth, citing the high standards and eminent judges. “Writers read from their work, rather than thank their psychiatrists. … I find it refreshing that it’s not in New York.”

The PEN/Faulkner Foundation was founded in Charlottesville, but moved to the capital after an invitation by the late Folger Shakespeare Library director O.B. Hardison, Jr., whose work transformed both organizations.

PEN/Faulkner, located at the Folger, also has an annual reading series, which is becoming more diversified, says executive director Jessica Neely. The 2007-08 series includes not just literary heavyweights like local authors Alice McDermott and Edward P. Jones (a PEN/Faulkner finalist), but a panel on graphic novels and a night with “Three Kings” — Stephen and his author-wife and -son.

Perhaps the country’s most prestigious annual cultural event is held here every year — the Kennedy Center Honors. “It’s the only time you see classical music on prime time network television, ever,” notes Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser of the televised December event. Last year’s gala brought to town honorees Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Smokey Robinson, Steven Spielberg, Dolly Parton and Zubin Mehta — along wth the usual influx of celebrity presenters and past winners.

The Kennedy Center’s 10-year-old Mark Twain Prize for American Humor — awards have gone to Richard Pryor, Steve Martin and this year’s honoree Billy Crystal, among others — has become another annual, nationally televised fixture on the nation’s cultural landscape. A humor prize in stodgy Washington? It might seem incongruous, until you consider that Washington has long been home to political satirists descended in spirit from Twain like P.J. O’Rourke and Christopher Buckley.

Mr. Kaiser says the District has plenty to be proud of. “We’re the choral capital of the country,” he boasts. And the city is quickly becoming a theater center, with an “astonishing” 60 professional groups.

Mr. Kaiser himself is partly responsible for attracting national attention to the District’s emergence as a theater capital. He’s organized two theater festivals — one celebrating Stephen Sondheim, the other Tennessee Williams — with a third on August Wilson next year.

The secret to success, Mr. Kaiser says, is focusing both on the quality of the work and the way it’s marketed, both in and outside the city.

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