Hamilton has canceled a run on the Kennedy Middle in Washington, DC, scheduled to kick off this spring in gentle of the “current purge by the Trump Administration of each skilled employees and performing arts occasions at or initially produced by the Kennedy Middle [that] flies within the face of all the pieces this nationwide cultural middle represents.”
In a prolonged assertion posted to Hamilton’s social media channels on Wednesday, producer Jeffrey Vendor acknowledged that, “Political disagreement and debate are important expressions of democracy. These fundamental ideas of freedom are on the very coronary heart of Hamilton. Nevertheless, Vendor added, “some establishments are sacred and needs to be shielded from politics. The Kennedy Middle is one such establishment.”
“The Kennedy Middle was based over 50 years in the past with a honest bipartisan spirit,” Vendor continued. “Certainly, it was based in the course of the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower, named after President John F. Kennedy, and opened in 1971 below the administration of Richard M. Nixon. The Kennedy Middle was meant to be for all Individuals, a spot the place we may all come collectively in celebration of the humanities. Politics have by no means affected the presentation of 1000’s of reveals and the show of extraordinary visible arts.”
“Nevertheless, in current weeks we have now sadly seen a long time of Kennedy Middle neutrality be destroyed,” Vendor added. “The current purge by the Trump Administration of each skilled employees and performing arts occasions at or initially produced by the Kennedy Middle flies within the face of all the pieces this nationwide cultural middle represents. This spirit of nonpartisanship ended on February 7, 2025, with the firing of Kennedy Middle President Deborah Rutter, the Chairman of the Board David Rubenstein, and quite a few different Kennedy Middle board members, in addition to the cancellation of vital programming. These actions convey a brand new spirit of partisanship to the nationwide treasure that’s the Kennedy Middle.”
Hamilton had been scheduled to run on the Kennedy Middle from March third, 2025 to April twenty sixth, 2026. Nevertheless, Vendor has now concluded that, “Given these current actions, our present merely can’t, in good conscience, take part and be part of this new tradition that’s being imposed on the Kennedy Middle.”
Vendor pressured that his resolution to cancel Hamilton’s run was not an act of protest towards the Trump Administration, because the present was beforehand staged on the Kennedy Middle in 2018 throughout Trump’s first time period. As a substitute, it’s an act “towards the partisan insurance policies of the Kennedy Middle on account of his current takeover.”
Additionally factoring into Vendor’s resolution was the obvious chance that the brand new Trump-appointed board of the Kennedy Middle may cancel Hamilton’s performances anyway. “Hamilton is a big and world manufacturing, and it might merely be financially and personally devastating to the lots of of staff of Hamilton if the brand new management of the Kennedy Middle all of a sudden cancelled or re-negotiated our engagement,” he defined. “The actions of the brand new Chairman of the Board in current weeks reveal that contracts and former agreements merely can’t be trusted. That is unhappy, as a result of fundamental integrity and the rule of regulation have lengthy been nice American rules that assist function a basis for our Nation.”
“Whatever the political local weather, I’ve at all times felt at residence at The Kennedy Middle, and I’m grateful for each one that has spent the final 50 years making it a beacon of nonpartisanship and celebration,” Vendor wrote to conclude his assertion. “However we can’t presently assist an establishment that has been pressured by exterior forces to betray its mission as a nationwide cultural middle that fosters the free expression of artwork in America of America.”