It’s been almost a month since Donald Trump orchestrated a takeover of the Kennedy Center and had himself elected the chairman of its Board of Trustees. Within the time since then, greater than 20 exhibits scheduled on the Washington, DC-based venue have both been canceled or been postponed.
The listing of impacted of occasions was shared by the Kennedy Heart late this week alongside a press release from Roma Daravi, the middle’s new VP of Public Relations. “Within the spirit of transparency because of the litany of misinformation being unfold within the press, you will need to give the general public a whole account of program cancellations over the previous six months,” Daravi wrote, who added the “solely exhibits below the Kennedy Heart umbrella that we’ve canceled since February twelfth have been as a result of lack of gross sales or artist availability.”
Certainly, every present listed on the middle’s roundup features a purpose why it was axed, with most studying “Canceled by artist,” “Canceled as a result of low ticket gross sales,” or “Canceled for monetary causes.”
However trying deeper, it’s clear that the modifications occurring on the Kennedy Heart are political in nature. Most of the artists who’ve distanced themselves from the group have performed so out of protest, together with Ben Folds, who resigned from an advisory place final month, and the cancelation of a run of Hamilton, who’s producers stated they “can’t presently help” the establishment.
Additional, publications like Deadline have highlighted that a number of of the exhibits that have been canceled or postponed for “monetary causes” featured themes that contradict with Trump’s conservative imaginative and prescient for American tradition, just like the vaccine-themed play Eureka Day and the LGBTQ-celebrating adaptation of the story A Peacock Amongst Pigeons by the Nationwide Symphony Orchestra.
In the meantime, the Kennedy Heart does nonetheless have occasions arising, together with a reported performance by the J6 Prison Choir, comprised of males beforehand imprisoned for his or her involvement within the January sixth United States Capitol assault.
— The Kennedy Heart (@kencen) March 7, 2025
