For over 50 years the American College Theatre Festival has partnered with the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center for their annual event.

After 58 years, the Festival has suspended that partnership.

 Calling the partnership “no longer viable”, The American College Theatre Festival issued a statement on Facebook saying, “due to circumstances and decisions that do not align with our organization’s values, the National Committee, which includes regional leadership (regional chairs, regional playwriting chairs, regional design, technology, and management chairs, and the building opportunity through leadership and development chairs) has voted to suspend our affiliation with the Kennedy Center. We are proceeding with the eight vibrant regional conferences as planned for 2026…The American College Theatre Festival will continue, and we are confident that we can and will sustain the extraordinary opportunities, celebrations, and connections that define our work. We remain steadfast in our mission to encourage, recognize, and celebrate the finest and most diverse work created in college and university theatre programs; to provide opportunities for participants to develop their skills, insight, and professionalism; to elevate the quality of theatre produced in higher education; to champion distinguished productions of new plays—especially those written by students—as well as revitalized classics and bold, experimental works, and building opportunity through leadership and development.”

The American College Theatre Festival is the culmination of the college theatre season featuring over 600 diverse theatrical productions from college students all across the country.

Since the current White House administration took office, there has been a number of activities involving The Kennedy Center beginning with a hostile takeover, cancelled shows, drops in ticket sales, and the most recent act of changing the name of the facility.

While the website now carries the title “The Trump Kennedy Center” but the web address remains kennedy-center.org after “South Park” writer Toby Morton purchased the domain name for purposes of creating a satirical/parody site.