It’s been almost a month since Donald Trump orchestrated a takeover of the Kennedy Middle 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 checklist of impacted of occasions was shared by the Kennedy Middle late this week alongside an announcement 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, it is very important give the general public an entire account of program cancellations over the previous six months,” Daravi wrote, who added the “solely exhibits below the Kennedy Middle umbrella that we have now canceled since February twelfth had been attributable to 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 attributable to low ticket gross sales,” or “Canceled for monetary causes.”
However trying deeper, it’s clear that the adjustments occurring on the Kennedy Middle are political in nature. Most of the artists who’ve distanced themselves from the group have executed 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 not presently assist” the establishment.
Additional, publications like Deadline have highlighted that a number of of the exhibits that had 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 Middle does nonetheless have occasions developing, together with a reported efficiency by the J6 Jail Choir, comprised of males beforehand imprisoned for his or her involvement within the January sixth United States Capitol assault.
— The Kennedy Middle (@kencen) March 7, 2025
