The director of programming at Harlem Stage in New York is heading to Washington to become the first director of hip-hop culture at the Kennedy Center.
The Kennedy Center announced the appointment of Simone Eccleston on Wednesday. She'll start on March 13.
The move is part of a push by the Kennedy Center to incorporate more hip hop into its programming. Last year, the center named rapper Q-Tip as its artistic director for hip hop. Q-Tip is one of the founding members of A Tribe Called Quest.
Eccleston will also oversee other contemporary music programming at the Kennedy Center in genres including rhythm and blues, folk, world music and Latin music.
In a statement, she calls the Kennedy Center's commitment to hip hop programming "deeply significant."
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