According to President Trump, the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts will be led by him. On Friday, he proclaimed himself chairman of the long-standing cultural institution in Washington, D.C. He will do so instead of former President Joe Biden’s friend and wealthy philanthropist David Rubenstein, who was supposed to serve as chair until 2026.
Trump said he was firing “multiple individuals” from the center’s Board of Trustees who did not share our goal for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture right away in a post on Truth Social.
Trump declared that a new board “with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!” will be announced shortly. He also criticized the institution’s programming.
“Last year, the Kennedy Center hosted drag shows especially aimed at our young people. THIS WILL END. As a national treasure, the Kennedy Center must showcase the best stars nationwide. “The best is yet to come for the Kennedy Center.”
Rubenstein had “no comment” on the announcement, according to a spokesman for the co-founder and co-chairman of the massive private equity firm Carlyle. However, the Kennedy Center noted in a statement that although they were aware that board members had received termination notifications, they had not received any formal messages from the White House about changes to the board of trustees.
According to the statement, nothing in the Center’s law would prohibit a new administration from changing board members. But this would be the first time the board of the Kennedy Center has taken such a step.
The center has enjoyed “strong support” throughout its existence “from members of Congress and their staffs—Republicans, Democrats, and Independents,” the statement added. According to the statement, the Center has collaborated with each presidential administration and has “a bi-partisan board of trustees that has supported the arts in a non-partisan fashion.”
Trump skipped the Kennedy Center’s annual gala during his first term as president; artists vowed to boycott Kennedy Center events at the White House and criticized his government.
Which Kennedy Center board members Trump would fire were unclear at first. Biden named several people to the center’s board. At the same time, he was president, and he included Chris Korge, the finance chair of the Democratic National Committee, and Karine Jean-Pierre, the former press secretary for the White House. The board also provides musician Jon Batiste and TV producer Shonda Rhimes as treasurer.
1955 President Dwight D. Eisenhower envisioned an “artistic mecca” in the nation’s capital, according to the center’s website. President Kennedy oversaw the fundraising efforts to construct the National Cultural Center after Eisenhower signed legislation creating it. The cultural center opened in Kennedy’s honor as a “living memorial” in 1964, two months after his assassination, and features dance, opera, classical and contemporary music, and other performing arts from the United States and beyond.
The Center has recognized and featured numerous performers from last year’s honorees, The Grateful Dead, Frances Ford Coppola, Bonnie Raitt, Arturo Sandoval, and the Apollo Theater, to Fred Astaire and Marian Anderson in 1981.
This weekend’s events at the Kennedy Center include a production of the musical Schmigadoon and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
