Courtesy of Sesame Workshop(WASHINGTON D.C.) — Oscar winner Sally Field and the acclaimed TV show Sesame Street will be among the recipients of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors.

The recipients are being honored for their “lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts,” with the primary criterion being “excellence.”

In a statement, Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein said, “Sally Field has brought us unforgettable characters, both joyous and poignant, for more than five decades.”

Of the only TV show to ever receive the honor, Rubenstein said, “Sesame Street continues to revolutionize how children and adults learn about our world.”

The statement adds that “The co-founders of Sesame Street, Joan Ganz Cooney and Dr. Lloyd Morrisett, will accept the Kennedy Center Honors on behalf of the show, Muppets creator Jim Henson, seminal Muppets artists Caroll Spinney and Frank Oz, and the thousands of creatives who have built the program’s 50-year legacy.”

Singer Linda Ronstadt and the group Earth, Wind & Fire will also be feted at the star-studded Washington, D.C., ceremony on December 8, which will subsequently air December 15 on CBS.

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