Stravinsky only wrote for 2 bassoons, but he got a riot!
When asked about the origins of The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky recalled in his book Conversations, “I had dreamed of a scene of pagan ritual in which a chosen sacrificial virgin danced herself to death.” Between Stravinsky’s surreal dream, Nijinsky’s primordial choreography, and the PR genius of Diaghilev, the impresario who pulled the fete off, they all set the stage for some WOKE madness that fateful day in 1913.
Woke it was! Shortly after the bombastic music and ritual dancing, the audience was awoken to a riot. A pagan seance, sacrifice on stage, and the tortured motions of Nijinsky’s choreography were all a little too much for the Parisian audience. If it were today at the Kennedy Center, it’s very likely Ric Grenell and his anti-woke dance director would ban the performance and label it WOKE leftist ideology. We know it as a symphonic masterpiece.
Wild stomping dance. One of the great scandals in the history of music
Imagine going into the Kennedy Center in your furs and walking out of pandemonium.
More than 100 years later, we continue to enjoy the riotous energy that Diaghilev, Nijinsky, and Stravinsky brought to the stage that day. Perhaps now, with some distance from the riot, we can sit back and say, “Wow, Stravinsky knew how to wake us up and see the world around us.” His music, a fantastical explosion of life and spirit, touches audiences’ inner core to this day. It’s as if the pagan ritual helps us find our primordial roots.
1913 was a time for experimentation in music and dance. Atonal music had ripped through Vienna, and tonal was back, but Stravinsky and Diaghilev stretched the art form beyond recognition. Stravinsky introduced new approaches to melody, harmony, dissonance, and rhythm. He explored how music could represent an abstract subject matter. People were so incensed that they started a riot. Throwing tomatoes and yelling through the performance.
Today, we almost have a riot when an audience member unceremoniously applauds between movements, or the sneer we give a neighbor when their cell phone rings at the most quiet, breath-defying moment of a piece of music.
It’s rare for us to come away from a performance at the Kennedy Center being scandalized, but on that infamous day in 1913, many Parisians left clutching their pearls.
After Kennedy Center leadership removed dance curators at the Center, they installed a new, self-described MAGA and anti-woke ballerina to the post. Who is to say that with the new censors in place at the Kennedy Center, our own current manifestation of Rite of Spring could be banned from Kennedy Center Stages?
When you start censoring artistic expression, you restrain the human voice and movement that express new ideas in music, dance, and theater. John F. Kennedy often spoke of the importance of the 1st Amendment and free speech. And here we are, with leadership at the Center named in his memory, censoring what it calls DEI and ‘Woke’ art. Censorship has no place in the halls of the Kennedy Center. Let dissonant echoes fill the halls with the resonance of protests through artistic expression.
Join us in our peaceful yet “riotous” protest against the leadership failures at the Kennedy Center. Sign our petition to let Ric Grenell know that audience members do not want censorship of art at the Kennedy Center and demand that KC leadership and board stay out of the partisan anti-woke anti-DEI culture wars.
In addition to protesting the actions this administration has taken against arts independence at the Kennedy Center let’s join our voices together to protest 1) imperialist actions in Venezuela without congressional Authority and 2) increasingly fascist takeover of our cities by out of control ICE officers who think it is Ok to murder and kidnap people in our communities. We as an arts community must stand up against all acts of this authoritarian regime. We the people united are stronger than the cowards in power!
You have likely heard a lot lately about the controversial renaming of the Kennedy Center. Yes, we are outraged that a sitting president and his board of sycophants would desecrate a slain president’s memorial by slapping his name on top. It is the equivalent of a vandal’s spray paint. BUT! This fight is much larger than whose name appears on the facade of the mid-century modern box on the Potomac.
The Kennedy Center has always been guided by the principles of John F Kennedy and the vision he articulated for the role the arts play in our civic life. The people and artistic communities within the Kennedy Center have defined it as the nation’s premier performing arts center for the past 54 years. No name affixed to the marble walls can alter that heritage. Letters can become unfixed, but the foundation of artistic communities is deeply rooted. NOW is our opportunity to unite as a community, learn how to support each other, and stand up against forces of authoritarianism that seek to divide us. Join us in our chorus of protest against the authoritarian interference with the arts in America. The Kennedy Center belongs to us!
Who are the people who make the Kennedy Center what it is?
Musicians, Artists, Technicians, Designers, Arts Administrators, Ushers, Volunteers, Audience members, and donors.
We form the fabric of the artistic community that shapes and strengthens the Kennedy Center. These communities are what is at stake as Trump, Grenell, and the KC Board take an axe to the Kennedy Center as an institution and stick its nose into free and independent artistic expression. It is past time that this administration take its hands off the arts and let artists be artists free of partisan rhetoric and propaganda.
Defending Our Institutions
There are many voices urging boycotts of the Kennedy Center in light of the recent “cosmetic” changes. We appreciate the anger and frustration behind these calls, but we deliberately choose to defend the institutions that are under attack rather than walk away. In On Tyranny, Timothy Snyder emphasizes the importance of defending institutions that authoritarian regimes target. It is our responsibility to protect and defend the institutions we value. This is our moment to stand up, raise our voices, and defend the artistic communities that make up the Kennedy Center.
Rather than throw our hands in the air and hand the Kennedy Center over to people who would rather see the arts sink into the Potomac, we chose to stand in solidarity with those inside the building who continue to artistically enrich our nation despite this administration’s best efforts to snuff out artistic expression.
John F. Kennedy viewed the arts as central to a nation’s promise. He referred to art as a “test of the quality of a nation’s civilization,” a “form of truth, not propaganda,” and essential for fostering understanding and democracy. Art nourishes the soul and spirit, not just the body. Society must liberate artists to pursue their vision for cultural enrichment. JFK saw art as a powerful force for unity, stating it “calls forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color,” linking artistic freedom to national strength.
If art is a test of our nation’s civilization, we are in the throes of a fight for survival!
JFK’s Values are at Stake
62 years after JFK’s death, the man whose name straddles atop Kennedy’s on the facade of the building peddles partisan rhetoric, racism, and bigotry—pitting one ideological side of America against the other using “woke art” as a cudgel to divide rather than unite.
As artists and community members, we call out the failures of the newly appointed leadership at the Kennedy Center. They resort to propaganda and misinformation to obfuscate the destruction they are laying to the artistic and professional communities that have built the foundation for artistic excellence over 54 years. It is an artist’s job to speak where others are silent, make music where others make noise (and yes, sometimes dissonance amid harmony), and move where others are frozen by inertia.
We here, at Pack the House Purple, raise our voices in protest, move our bodies against a sea of inertia, and unite in a symphony of artistic resistance. Our creative energy fuels the country’s cultural enrichment.
Standing up in support of artists, musicians, and union workers at the Kennedy Center can take multiple forms. On Saturday, Dec 20, 2025, we joined hands with a coalition of like-minded folks, including Hands off the Arts and the Kennedy Center United Arts Workers Union, to say loud and clear to the Kennedy Center Board, President Ric Grenell, and President Donald Trump, “ Hands off the Arts! The Kennedy Center belongs to the American people.”
We joined our voices along with our community allies- Senator Chris Van Hollen, TaraHoot, The Rapid Response Choir, and you in a chorus of protest to denounce the past 10 months of political interference with the arts, union busting, and the most recent illegal name change at the Kennedy Center.
The board’s latest assault on its own organization- adding Trump’s name to John F Kennedy’s Memorial- adds one more shameful dereliction of duty to the list. The illegal name change ratified by the board last week further illustrates the depths to which current leadership is determined to sink the Center into the Potomac. It wasn’t enough that their anti-woke ideological war on the arts caused the most significant revenue shortfall since the pandemic; they doubled down on the brand-killing moves of the past 10 months. They decided it was ok to name the Center after a living president. This reckless and negligent action will have detrimental effects on the Center’s sustainability going forward.
The board of any nonprofit has a duty to take care not to harm the organization it oversees. This includes not only ensuring fiscal responsibility but also maintaining the organization’s goodwill. The board’s actions so far, including the name change the board ratified last week, can only be described as self-sabotage. In addition to turning a blind eye to the decline in the organization’s fiscal future, the board has instead resorted to blasting out misinformation and propaganda to try to shape the narrative as “Trump saved the Kennedy Center from failure.”
These actions will only exacerbate the current decline in ticket revenue and further cement people’s bad will towards the Center. Before the name change, we were already facing calls for a boycott. Now, countering that narrative is even more critical.
This propaganda couldn’t be further from the truth if it tried. Instead of embracing truth and facts, the board, Ric Grenell, and his spokeswoman, Roma Daravi, resort to the age-old trumpian playbook- distort, lie, and obfuscate. They think if you say something enough times, people will believe it.
All one has to do to counter the false narrative peddled by Kennedy Center Leadership is look at past years for financial success, 90% ticket sales in prior years, and the successful partnerships prior leadership developed with donors. No amount of repetition, rinse and recycle can wash out the truth. Instead, the Center’s leadership continually sullies the organization’s name, brand, and mission.
It is essential that, as a community of artists and arts patrons, we remain vigilant in our quest to stand up against misinformation, speak the truth, and make our chorus of protest more resonant than those in power.
Senator Christ Van Hollen Spoke out against the Kennedy Center’s recent name change and the assault on the arts under its current leadership. He vowed to amend an upcoming Appropriations bill to take down Trump’s name from the Center
This weekend, we demonstrated that the combined strength of nearly 100 people’s voices on a sidewalk outside the Kennedy Center was resonant enough to bring out the National Guard, attract press coverage spanning the US and international boundaries, and, most importantly, ignite a movement in our community.
This weekend is only the beginning of a flight that we must continue. It is our solidarity and strength in community that will ensure we survive the coming years and guarantee that we are stronger for years to come. Plese join us as we expand our fight against the Kennedy Center’s interferance with the arts and the illegal name change. Share our page and information with your friends. Continue to show up in support of Artists, and continue using your voice to speak out against the authoritarian take over of The Kennedy Center.
Don’t forget to sign our Petition to hold the Kennedy Center Board and leadership accountable.
Today illustrates that Trump’s recent flubs about the “Trump Kennedy Center” were not merely a result of his increasing dementia, but rather a concerted campaign by him and his sycophants on the Kennedy Center Board to rename the center. In full-on authoritarian fashion, Trump and his acolytes are renaming public institutions after their dear leader. This illegal act is just one more example of the lawless approach that Trump and his cronies take to destroying institutions in our country. The Center is not a toy that baby Trump gets to name at his whim. It is a living memorial to an assassinated president. Trump and his board have about as much authority to rename the center as they do to rename the Lincoln Memorial, The Trump House of Equality. Not only are today’s actions a violation of the law, but they also disrespect a martyred president and his lasting legacy to the arts in our nation.
An act of Congress established the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 20 US Code section 76i(a), Congress designated the building the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Because the center is statutorily designated as “The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,” only Congress has the authority to change its name. As with many things that this presidential administration does, the recent vote by the Center’s Board is nothing more than blatant pandering to the fragile ego of the man-child who inhabits the White House. Absent congressional action, the Kennedy Center Board has no authority whatsoever to change the center’s name.
Additionally, under 20 USC section 76j (b) prohibits any additional plaques or memorials from being designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. (side note: the installation of Trump, Vance and their consorts on the entrance walls in the Hall of Nations is likely a violation of this law as well)
The Kennedy Center was already struggling with ticket sales due to the brand’s demolition of acts by Trump, Ric Grenell, and the Board. Now, with this move, it is sure to cement public sentiment against the Center and worsen the ticket revenue shortages the Center has witnessed over the past 10 months.
In short, the Kennedy Center board has no clothes and lacks the legal authority to change the Center’s name. Only Congress vests such authority.
It appears our, Washington Post’s, CNN, and New York Times’ reporting on plummeting ticket sales at the Kennedy Center is starting to get under the skin of Ric Grenell and KC leadership. We used to be able to look at the ticket booking portal on the Kennedy Center website and assess how many unsold tickets were available for each level in the opera house, concert hall, etc. It still took time, but the total available seats for each level were tallied. (See image from the Nutcracker).
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I guess, when you are publicly humiliated by your less-than-stellar ticket sales, you start to take action to obfuscate your ticket sales slump. First, you stop distributing the internal ticket sales reports; then you disable the function in your booking portal so people cannot see tallies of the total number of unsold tickets for each level in the opera house. (see Image below)
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Don’t fret. We here at Pack the House PURPLE are diligent bean counters, and we can still count the orange dots that denote available seats.
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According to information we learned, a week before the Center’s much-publicized Noel Jesus is Born Christmas performance, they have only sold about 15% of the seats. 389 tickets have actually been sold and 129 have been comped. That means that in a house that holds 2,347. The house will be virtually empty. There is definitely room at the inn on the Kennedy Center stage. So much for programming things that people really want to see. I would bet an all lesbian production of Othello would have more tickets sold than Grenell’s folly.
I guess live asses on stage can’t even pack the house. (no, not that orange-faced one from last week’s honors). Perhaps sales would increase if Grenell dressed as a clown and scooped poop backstage.
Don’t worry, Ric, we will continue to count empty seats to illustrate that your leadership has yet to bear the fruit that you announced- namely that you are producing shows that people want to see. We can see the empty seats, and you, Trump, and the board are more of a liability for the center’s future success than you are an ingredient for success.
If you are sick and tired of Ric Grenell and Trump’s board sinking the Kennedy Center into the Potomac, sign our petition and join us as we Pack the House PURPLE and protest the incompetent leadership at the Kennedy Center. We will be planning more protests and direct actions in the new year.
Demystifying the finances of the Kennedy Center is a vast endeavor, namely because most of the Center’s finances and governance are shrouded in secrecy behind a big red velvet curtain. It doesn’t help matters that we are consistently being fed propaganda by Grenell and the Kennedy Center spokespeople. From them, we hear they are saving the Center, have collected record-breaking donations, and are seeing ticket revenue sharply increase. However, if you look at their tax filings and audits, you can begin to understand how the Kennedy Center finances work.
As we witness Trump’s hand-picked Ambassador and Board sink the Kennedy Center into the Potomac, lots of rhetoric about its finances abounds. There are significant misunderstandings about the Kennedy Center as an institution, including how it is funded and operates. At first glance, someone from my home state of Kentucky may see an arts institution in Washington, DC, with an operating budget of $260 million a year and say, ‘Whoa, why do the arts in DC need so much of my tax dollars?’ The answers may give a more sober response.
Did you know federal dollars for the Kennedy Center only fund the physical building- a presidential memorial. Arts programming funding is separate and not tax dollars?
Nearly all of the arts programming at the Kennedy Center is privately funded. Only a “small” portion ($40 million) of its $260 million yearly budget (roughly 15%) comes from federal funds. Plus, lest you think your tax dollars are funding crazy conceptual art performances, the money from tax dollars is solely used for building maintenance, upkeep, capital improvements and security.
In addition to being a living, breathing performing arts center, it is also a presidential memorial dedicated to John F. Kennedy. In the same way that our tax dollars pay for our national symbols like the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial, they also pay for the Kennedy Center Memorial.
In a normal year, the Kennedy Center gets $40 million for capital improvements and maintenance. However, in 2025, Trump and Republicans included $257 million in their budget for those expenses at the Center. Again, these expenses are limited to capital improvements, building maintenance, and security. That money does not fund the Kennedy Center’s artistic planning and programming. Most of this money from 2025 will go towards deferred maintenance and capital improvements at the Center.
see image below created by Miriam Cappellan
A large share of the $257 million sent to the Kennedy Center this year was plundered from the National Endowment for the Arts. That means that your tax dollars, which would have gone to your local communities for a bluegrass or jazz festival or your local museum, are now being funneled into Trump’s vanity project at the Kennedy Center. Don’t get me wrong. It is good that Congress is investing in the long-term future of the Kennedy Center as a building and presidential memorial. The problem is that this money was taken from NEA at the expense of arts programming across the nation. Money that was set aside for local arts funding is now being used to maintain the Kennedy Center’s physical structure.
The remaining $220 million of the Kennedy Center’s annual budget comes from two main sources: Revenue (tickets, parking concessions) and public, private, and corporate donations. Yes, part of those public donations includes federal money. Like many arts organizations in small communities across the country, the Kennedy Center receives federal grant funding for its arts and educational programming.
Did you know the Kennedy Center board has always been bi/non-partisan and its leaders have been selected after a national search?
This brings us to the Kennedy Center’s governance structure Since its inception the Kennedy Center was established as a public-private partnership governed by a non-partisan board of directors, who are appointed by presidents.
Over the years, the Board of Directors overlapped, and the Board operated on a nonpartisan basis. Usually, the president does not replace his predecessor’s appointees. That all changed when Trump came into office in 2025 and 1) named himself as the Chairman, 2) dismissed all Democrat appointed board members, and 3) had his hand-picked man, Ric Grenell, installed into a position he admits he didn’t even want.
Usually, the president of the Kennedy Center is selected by the Board following a nationwide search for talented arts executives with experience managing arts budgets, building donor bases, and overseeing operations. All previous Kennedy Center presidents had extensive experience in arts management, donor development, and financial management. This time, President Trump picked a guy low on his list for any other job and said, “Here’s a bone fetch. Or in Trump’s words, “Welcome to Showbiz.” Grenell’s lack of interest is evident in his lackluster performance to date.
Ric Grenell’s sole job as the Kennedy Center president was to keep the ship afloat. He was handed a ship that, over the decades, had been very successful in generating a healthy mix of revenue from the National Symphony, Washington National Opera, and dance, theater, and jazz programming. Additionally, the Center routinely brings in big acts like Hamilton, Wicked, and Dear Evan Hansen to buoy budgets with popular Broadway runs. Hamilton alone was projected to generate nearly $ 50 million in ticket revenue in 2026.
Did you know that the National Symphony and Washington National Opera are separate nonprofit organizations with their own boards, artistic directors, donors, and budgets?
Both the National Symphony and Washington National Opera retain independent artistic, leadership, governance, and financial structures. They also came to the Kennedy Center with their own substantial endowments. Their funds appear to be commingled with those of the Kennedy Center at large, but they are siloed off. When you donate and specify you want your money to go to the Opera or Symphony, those allocations are respected. Moreover, ticket revenue for the Symphony and Opera go directly to supporting the musicians in those organizations.
For the most part, the NSO and WNO are self-sustaining institutions. They run on ticket revenue from their own performances, donations, and other grants. For example, the Washington National Opera has an annual budget of approximately $ 24 million. The bulk of that budget, nearly $21.5 million, comes from Opera ticket revenue and corporate and individual donors. The Kennedy Center provides the opera with approximately $ 2.75 million per year. The center also helps support the Opera by pooling resources for fundraising, box office sales, and marketing.
As you can see, the substantial bulk of WNO’s budget comes from YOU, the audience member who buys tickets to performances. In turn, your ticket dollars go directly to the musicians in The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, the artists on stage, the backstage hands, and all the artists who make an opera grand.
The self-sustainable model is dependent on steady and healthy ticket sales revenue. Due to boycott efforts and empty halls for most of 2025, both institutions’ budgets are feeling severe financial pain.
It should also be noted that the Kennedy Center’s combined endowment appears to be extremely low for an organization of its size. According to information, the Kennedy Center endowment is around $163 million (not even one year’s worth of operating expenses). However, we also know that the Symphony currently has an endowment of around $50 million and has launched a campaign to raise it to $100 million. The National Opera also came into the Kennedy Center with a substantial endowment.
If the Kennedy Center were to lose the endowments for the National Symphony and National Opera, it would likely face a considerable shortfall. Though untangling these organizations and their finances is no small feat. In regular times, both the NSO and WNO generate substantial revenue and donations. Without them and their devoted audiences, the center would be adrift.
All of this is to say that there are many interconnected strings between the NSO and WNO and the Kennedy Center, but they both retain their independence in artistic planning and fundraising. The affiliation agreement with the Kennedy Center allows both to pool resources for specific overhead and administrative issues while retaining artistic and programmatic independence..
How does an arts organization routinely bring in nearly $183 million in private, corporate, and foundation donations?
By lots of relationship building in the philanthropic and corporate communities, and by engaging with individual donors. As a former Ambassador, Grenell should have some confidence in diplomatic maneuvering to assuage donors from all political and corporate interests. Reality is stark.
Instead, Ambassador Grenell came in like a wrecking ball. On the tailcoats of Trump’s bombastic tweets declaring “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR ANY OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA,” Grenell continued the screed against woke art. These actions have almost caused the ship to capsize. Calls for mass boycotts, which have largely been successful, have led to empty performance venues and precipitous losses in ticket revenue. Only through comping (giving away free tickets), steeply discounting tickets, and closing off upper levels for seating have the performance halls managed to attract any semblance of an audience.
Artists who refuse to perform (including the $50 million revenue powerhouse Hamilton) and a general erosion of the Kennedy Center’s once-esteemed brand as a nonpartisan center of artistic excellence that served as an example of how the arts could thrive in America have bruised the Center’s reputation beyond recognition.
Once you sully an institution’s reputation and alienate all its supporters, audience members, donors, and expert artistic programmers from your cause, you have very little left to work with. That is the reality Grenell is finding these days as he tries to make sense of the cracks he created in the Kennedy Center’s pillars of funding.
Do you know how much it costs to run a symphony and an opera?
Raw numbers for operating a symphony orchestra sound huge. $40 million for a symphony orchestra? First, you have to take into account that the orchestra has 90 musician employees, plus backstage and administrative staff. The bulk of their budget is composed of salaries for musicians and staff who create the entertainment you enjoy. Just like it costs millions to produce movies, it costs millions to produce live music entertainment. I guarantee you no musicians are getting paid millions like the movie stars in the films you watch.
Grand opera is even more expensive to produce. Not only do you have a full-time orchestra, but you also have set and costume designers, backstage hands, lighting technicians, singers, and dancers. Opera really is the amalgamation of all art forms rolled into one. And its budgets reflect the grandness of producing operas.
While it may be easy to get overwhelmed by the high numbers of dollars that go into the performing arts, the reality is that most of every dollar we spend on a ticket to the symphony or opera goes to pay the salary of a musician in the orchestra, the costume or set designer, and the backstage hands and technicians. Yes, supporting the arts is expensive. But behind every concert, opera play, or ballet are numerous individual union workers whose livelihoods depend on it. Their purpose in work is to provide top-quality entertainment for you, the audience. The thousands of people who bring a paycheck home from the Kennedy Center every two weeks are our neighbors and friends, providing for their families and paying for healthcare based on the ticket dollars we spend when we go out to be entertained.
How many of us pay for movie tickets every month, Netflix subscriptions, or pay through the advertisements we watch on TV? Similarly, the individuals who create entertainment for us on stage require funding to continue their work.
What about Dance, Theater and Jazz Programing?
All other revenue, excluding NSO and WNO ticket revenues, falls under a single budget line: “Kennedy Center productions.” This includes ticket revenues from dance, theater, and jazz programming.
Generally, for traveling Broadway shows, the Kennedy Center contracts with a show for a certain amount and for a certain number of performances. Then, the Kennedy Center handles the marketing and ticketing, retaining all ticket revenue from a show. For example, in 2026, the Center was set to host Hamilton for over 100 performances. They would pay Hamilton around $50 million and were projected to earn $50 million in revenue.
For dance companies that tour, they engage in a similar contractual relationship with the center. The Center contracts with ballet companies for a specified amount and also covers the companies’ expenses while the show is in town. (accommodation and per diem). Then all ticket revenue returns to the Kennedy Center.
This model has proven very beneficial to both the Kennedy Center as a revenue producer, but also provides revenue for the traveling shows, as well as accommodations and per diem while dance companies are on tour. The Kennedy Center plugs into the larger dance ecosystem. Eliminate one, and the whole ecosystem collapses.
Soon, the water of the Potomac may start lapping up against Kennedy Center stages
The current state of affairs at the Kennedy Center is perilous. Ric Grendel and Trump’s board came in like a wrecking ball and have disrupted the highly choreographed dance that the Kennedy Center had engaged in over the years with artists, donors, audience members, and corporate sponsors.
Grenell and the board’s fiscal and reputational malpractice have put the center in uncharted choppy waters. It takes diplomacy and tact to maintain a donor list in a city as polarized as Washington, DC. And yet, for its 54-year history before Rick and the Icks, Kennedy Center leadership was able to find a balance where people of all political stripes believed in the Kennedy Center’s non-partisan brand of artistic excellence. And they were willing to put their dollars where their mouths were. Grenell has demonstrated that he lacks the skills of a diplomat and most certainly does not possess the skills to run a $ 260 million performing arts center.
With the entrance of the gladiators under Trump, it’s as if leadership doesn’t care if the whole thing burns to the ground. Their bombastic rhetoric and engagement in culture wars show they are willing to stand by as the ship sinks into the Potomac.
Why Does Supporting the Arts In Washington DC Matter?
To a large extent, large national performing arts centers, such as the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center in New York, set the pace for the arts and performing arts ecosystem across the nation.
If we cannot find the political imperative to support robust and diverse arts programming in our nation’s capital, how do we think we will find the political will to also support the performing arts in communities across the country?
I am from a small town in western Kentucky. I distinctly remember in elementary school, the local Orchestra would come to schools and do educational outreach. Or in the summer, our city parks would host a bluegrass music festival and a W.C. Handy Blues festival. The local community college and Arts Alliance would bring in touring dance companies, such as the Paul Taylor Dance Company. If it were not for robust arts funding and the National Endowment for the Arts, this Kentucky boy might not have been exposed to a diverse array of performing arts and might not have become an avid symphony and opera fan.
In addition to its main stage performances, the Kennedy Center also serves as a stage for many local and regional performing arts groups. Dance, theater, and musical groups routinely perform on various stages at the Kennedy Center. Likewise, the Millennium stage, which Grenell has downsized by reducing its schedule by two days a week, provides a diverse group of performers with varying levels of visibility the opportunity to appear on stage and showcase their art form, both live in the hall and through their streaming platforms. These free performances, which were once available 365 days a year, offer the DC community, as well as tourists to DC, the opportunity to experience a vast array of performing arts at no cost.
Supporting and building artistic communities across the nation is just as crucial as building large-scale arts programming in our nation’s capital. A moral commitment to the arts also requires financial commitment from our government. Suppose we allow the mismanagement of the Kennedy Center to result in less artistic excellence in our nation’s premier performing arts center. What is left to trickle down to our small communities?
The Kennedy Center is Ours. Let’s Reclaim it and Hold Leadership Accountable
First, I would push back against the narrative that the Kennedy Center is making a political statement. Yes, leadership has taken the reins and engaged in bombastic partisan rhetoric. But, for the most part, most programming remains independent and retains the high level of artistic excellence we expect from the Kennedy Center.
Yes, we fear that this independence may be at risk. The only way Kennedy Center leadership can get away with perverting the artistic excellence at the Kennedy Center is if we let them. The Kennedy Center is not Trump or Grenell’s playground. The Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a martyred president. It belongs to all Americans.
The Kennedy Center has stood on the banks of the Potomac for 54 years. Hopefully, it will remain there for many more years to come. However, unless we want it to be a hollowed out empty mid-century modern box on the Potomac, we have to reclaim it as our own.
We all have a right to to stand up and sit down in the seats at the Kennedy Center and demand that leadership ensures that the stages of the Kennedy Center reflect our hugely diverse nation. We can demand that many voices be represented in the halls of the center and that inclusion be valued. In addition to these values, leadership at the Center must ensure its own financial sustainability. Currently Grenell and the board are failing.
Sure, Grenell and President Trump have a mega horn to spout their “anti woke” rhetoric. But we have something more resonant and more powerful: Voices in solidarity and protest have always been more resonant than any mega horn.
In addition to literally white-washing the Kennedy Center, booking religious and far-right programming and causing ticket revenue to plummet, Ric and the Icks have added an extra elitism to the halls at the Kennedy Center. Perhaps in response to the nouveau rich gold-plated aesthetic of the gilded faux gold President, there are now red-carpet, velvet-rope, step-and-repeat “celebrity” lines in the Hall of States. This week’s annual Kennedy Center Honors will put Trump’s Mara Lago Faux celebrity on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center.
In an attempt to add a bit of glam to the Kennedy Center, “Ric and the Icks” have just added to the administration’s gaudiness- a velvet rope of exclusion. The portraits of our dear leader and his name etched in marble were not enough. Grenell claims that the Kennedy Center is for ALL Americans, yet only a select few of the MAGA literati get the special pass to traverse the velvet ropes and pose for a glamour shot.
Want to snap a selfie with the KC wallpaper behind you? Wait, do you have a pass to the elite MAGA world? Who are the celebrities? A running list of D-rate MAGA influencers, Trump’s partisan cabinet sycophants, and anyone who wants to get in Trump’s dimly lit limelight -the only price is to sell your soul.
I was recently in an empty hall of states one afternoon with the group Hands Off the Arts while we delivered a sign-on letter to Ric Grenell, demanding that he recognize the recently formed Arts Workers United Union. I wanted to just get a casual selfie of myself with the Kennedy Center background and a cardboard cutout of Grenell’s head. I thought to myself, “They put out the red carpet for us.” As soon as I crossed the velvet rope, security informed me I wasn’t in the “in crowd.”
Ric, if you really wanted to open the doors of the Kennedy Center to ALL Americans, you would not have fired the Social Impact Team. Their entire job was to develop diverse audiences so that the Center more accurately reflected the US population. They brought in shows and events at the Center that expanded the stages and provided opportunities for people to see themselves, their voices, and their stories on stage. And guess what! Social Impact translates to…. Butts in seats and tickets purchased. Something you are having difficulty with.
Plus, I got news for ya, Ric: a celebrity line is great if you have crowds in the halls waiting to see performances, but you have done such a good job sullying the brand at the Kennedy Center that your halls are empty. Your celebrity velvet rope line is about as vacant as the concert halls under your failed leadership.
Instead of flinging the doors of the Kennedy Center open, you have slammed them shut and gilded them with the same fake gold that adorns the Oval Office. The halls and stages at the Kennedy Center are not yours and not your stages to produce MAGA’s tragedy opera “America’s failing Democracy. ” The halls and stages belong to US, the audience, the community, and the citizens of the United States.
We don’t need velvet-rope, red-carpet paparazzi lines. We want competent leadership and artistic excellence! Ric Grenell and Kennedy Center leadership, it’s time you are held accountable for your failures. Instead of posing for selfies and creating a faux celebrity status, get back to work supporting the artists, musicians, and union employees who make the Kennedy Center more than a mid-century modern box on the Potomac.
The number of performances in Nov/Dec 2025 is down 25% from the same periods in ‘23 and ‘24.
An analysis of programming in the “big 4” performance spaces in the Kennedy Center – Concert Hall, Opera House, Eisenhower Theater, and Terrace Theater – reveals that the number of performances in Nov/Dec ‘25 is down 25% from the same time periods in both 2023 and 2024. Specifically, in 2023, between Nov 1 and Dec 31, there were 113 programmed dates and 118 performances. In 2024, for the same dates, there were 114 programmed dates and 125 performances. In contrast, in 2025, for the same period, there were only 81 programmed dates and 88 scheduled performances.
The number of performances in the Terrace was down from 20 and 21 in ‘23 and ‘24 respectively to 14 shows scheduled in ‘25. (Events in the Terrace are typically single performances and are often booked through the Campus Rentals Office so it’s not easy to determine whether contracts were cancelled or just never booked.) Concert Hall performances were largely intact in ‘25 but a 3-performance subscription series by the NSO on 12/4-6 was postponed until March due to the FIFA Draw event. In the Eis’enhower, the Champions of Magic run was truncated from 7 to 4 performances due to the Saudi Business Forum and the Trisha Brown Dance contract for 4 performances was cancelled completely to make room for the FIFA Draw. The Opera House took the biggest hit, down 50% from 30 performances in ‘23 and ‘24 to just 15 shows in ‘25 largely because there was no major theater event such as “Frozen” in ‘23 and “& Juliet” in ‘24 booked into the Opera House over the ‘25-‘26 holiday season.
For the first time since 1990, A Jazz Piano Christmas is not on The Kennedy Center’s schedule!
For the first time in 35 years, NPR’s “A Jazz Piano Christmas” is not on the Kennedy Center’s schedule in 2025. A beloved tradition begun in 1990, NPR has used the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater as the backdrop for its annual recording of “A Jazz Piano Christmas,” featuring great jazz keyboardists, young, old, well-known, and newcomers alike. This year, after the departure of many long-tenured programming staff, including Jason Moran and Kevin Struthers, who headed up the Jazz programming at the Center, the tradition has ended. In place of playing the live-recorded event, at least one NPR station, WEKU in Lexington, KY, will curate a “Best Of…” program as part of its regular jazz programming. As an aside, this move may have been telegraphed when the Kennedy Center did not offer a Jazz Subscription as part of its 25/26 Subscription Series, announced in the Spring of 2025.
It took Rick Grinnell and the Trump-appointed board of directors at the Kennedy Center all of nine months to cause plummeting ticket sales and revenue to fall off a cliff. Additionally, Grenell, under the Board’s negligent watch, has engaged in self-dealing, corruption, and fiscal malfeasance. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse produced the receipts. Ric, now it’s your turn to show your receipts.
Based on Washington Post reporting and receipts and contracts leaked to Senator Whitehouse’s office, Grenell and his cronies have given deep discounts to far-right political organizations’ use of the Center’s facilities and have also vouchered the center for luxury accommodations at the Watergate Hotel and lavish dining and champagne services at Kennedy Center Restraunts. To top it off, Grenell has awarded contracts to friends and close associates and recently signed a no-fee contract with FIFA for exclusive use of the center over 13 days in November/December.
FIFA gets 13 Days of Use of The Kennedy Center for Zero Dollars Absent Creative Accounting Jiggery Pokery
While the Center is hemorrhaging ticket sales revenue, Grenell is handing out discounts and lucrative contracts to conservative outlets for rentals and to friends, and providing free services to FIFA, a 6-billion-dollar organization.
The contract signed with FIFA for its annual draw to be held at the Center on December 5th is Exhibit One of Kennedy Center leadership’s fiscal mismanagement.
Ric Grinnell alleges that, although they are not charging FIFA for its use of the Kennedy Center, FIFA is paying upwards of $7.4 million for it. However, based on the contracts that we have reviewed, there is a delta between the calculated loss from moving NSO concerts, canceling NSO concerts, and canceling other groups that had already contracted with the Kennedy Center, and there’s also lost ticket revenue for the three weeks that the Kennedy Center will be shut down. The costs and associated losses from the FIFA draw exceed the amount that FIFA is allegedly paying the Kennedy Center through sponsorship and donations.
FIFA Kennedy Center Contract indicating $0 to be paid for 13 days of exclusive use of Center
Grenell claims that FIFA is paying $7.4 million to use the Kennedy Center for 13 days in Nov/December. We looked at the receipts and contracts that were made available by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s office and came to our own conclusions. According to Grenell’s non-so-reliable word, FIFA will pay the Kennedy Center $5 million in sponsorship fees to cover labor and equipment rental costs and donate $2.4 million to the Center.
The estimated cost to the center for the FIFA 13-day rental is about 7.4 million. This includes labor costs, equipment rentals, rescheduling fees for NSO and other prior contracts, lost revenue from prior contracts, and rental at fair market value for the center for 13 days. Grenell’s calculations, however, miss several points:
Any other organization that wanted to rent out the entire Kennedy Center and push out all other performances and contracted shows would have to pay a total of $7.4 million to the center.
Here, instead, FIFA is only paying $5 million in sponsorship fees (whatever that means). They are then donating an additional $2.4 million. This presumably covers the total costs of $7.4 million for their 13-day blackout at the Center. We should not treat this $2.4 million as equivalent to paying for the use of the center. Donations are accorded tax benefits. FIFA should be required to pay the market value of their use of labor and facilities at the Kennedy Center, which is $7.4 million. If they decide to provide a donation above and beyond the fair market value good on them. But for Grenell to pass this off as business as usual is dishonest and robbing the center of the revenue it would otherwise recoup were FIFA paying fair market value.
FIFA is a $6 billion organization that should be expected to pay fair market value – there is no reason to offer a discount to a $ 6 billion organization, especially when the center is hemorrhaging cash. This does not even begin to address concerns based on FIFA’s troubling history of paying their debts to labor and respecting union contracts where they have been before.
During these 13 days, the Center is pushing out its resident National Symphony Orchestra for both a classics concert of Mahler and a screening of Home Alone, along with multiple local arts organization concerts, performances, and rentals that have been canceled. These reschedules and cancellations represent over $700,000 in lost revenue and rental fees for the Center. This loss in revenue comes at a particularly sensitive time at the Center, when ticket revenue is already plummeting due to Grenell’s mismanagement.
Lavish Spending on Food and Luxury Accommodations for Grenell and Friends.
The receipts gathered by Senator Whitehouse show that the center provided luxury accommodations at the Watergate Hotel for new senior executives totaling $27,185. These accommodations span several months in May, June, and July for Lisa Dale (Senior Vice President), Marlon Bateman (senior contractor involved in staff terminations), Somer Salmon, Taylor Strand (Senior marketing official at the Center), and Danny Bartolla. The Kennedy Center paid for rooms at rates ranging from $296-$575 a night. The center even paid a no-show charge for a full-night reservation that was missed.
Grenell claims this is standard procedure for new hires. For context, the federal government’s maximum reimbursement rate for hotels in DC during this period is $276 per night. Why is Danny Bartolla being reimbursed for a luxury stay at the Watergate for $575 a night ($300 over the per diem rate that fed employees have to abide by)? Also, who is Danny Bartolla and Somer Solomon, and why is the Kennedy Center paying for their luxury accommodations? Other stays are also in excess of the per diem rate.
Additionally, receipts totalling $10,733 at Kennedy Center restaurants charge for multiple champagne services, multiple bottles of Rose, VIP Gold card privileges, shrimp cocktails, rack of lamb, crab cakes, etc, including a $740 check for Nick Meade’s birthday. Why are Kennedy Center donors paying for Ric’s friend’s Birthday? Grenell claims these charges were for fundraising purposes. Ok Ric, show us the receipts. Also of concern is that several of these meals were with people who hold leadership positions in political organizations you founded or led, including Fix California and Fix USA. Who else were you wining and dining, and what was their donation after your meals with them?
If this isn’t a let-them-eat-cake moment, I don’t know what is. While the rest of the Kennedy Center is reeling from the past 9 months of mismanagement by Grenell and Trump’s board and the plummeting ticket sales, Grenell is living high on the hog with his friends on the Kennedy Center expense account.
Senator Whitehouse’s letter and receipts also illustrate troubling discounts that Grenel has given to Conservative friends, including News Now and The Conservative Action Committee. These discounts are not only financially unwise during this storm at the Kennedy Center but further illustrate leadership’s desire to make the Kennedy Center into a partisan lightning rod in the culture wars. This has no place at the people’s Kennedy Center.
We demand accountability from Ric Grenell and the Board. The board has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the Center’s fiscal outlook is good. Allowing Grenell’s self-dealing, corruption, and fiscal mismanagement under their watch is a dereliction of duty. Ric Grenel, back your statements up with receipts. Show us why what you are doing is above board!
Sign our petition demanding accountability from Grenell and the Kennedy Center Board.
