Kennedy Center Crisis
There Is a Path to Recovery After the COVID Collapse and Trump Turbulence …
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, long hailed as the nation’s cultural crown jewel, has faced two profound disruptions in recent years.
The first was the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered performances, furloughed staff, and slashed ticket revenues. Despite receiving $25 million in emergency federal relief, the Center paused payroll for the National Symphony Orchestra in March 2020 and laid off hundreds of employees.
Critics accused the institution of prioritizing capital projects over people, while defenders cited the unprecedented scale of the crisis.
The second disruption occurred in early 2025, when Donald Trump, newly returned to power, assumed the chairmanship of the Kennedy Center board. He removed longtime philanthropist David Rubenstein and a bipartisan slate of trustees, installed loyalists including Richard Grenell as acting director, and ordered changes to the Center’s programming and governance in the name of battling “wokeism.”
The result has been nothing short of cultural upheaval.
