Recently the White House announced that the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts would be closing for a two-year renovation project.
On February 10, Kennedy Center president Richard Grennell issued a memo indicating that the impending closure would result in “skeletal teams”. Adding, “departments will obviously function on a much smaller scale with some units totally reduced or on hold until we begin preparations to reopen in 2028, promising permanent or temporary adjustments for most everyone.
He added, “this renovation represents a generational investment in our future. When we reopen, we will do so as a stronger organization — one that honors our legacy while expanding our impact.”
Grennell noted that between now and the closing in July that the department heads will be “evaluating the needs and making the decisions as to what these skeletal teams left in place during the facility and closure and construction phase will look like.” Grenell added the administration would “provide as much clarity and advance notice as possible.”
While there was an announcement over the upcoming renovations; there was no detail on exactly what those renovations would be; other than to say that they (White House administration) would keep the steel.
There has been no mention as to whether the annual Mark Twain Prize for Comedy and Kennedy Center Honors would continue during the closure.
It is currently unknown how many people are working at the Kennedy Center; the last report was last year’s tax report that stated 2,500 people worked at the Center.
Since the current White House administration took control of the Kennedy Center last February in a hostile takeover, artists have cancelled numerous scheduled performances. Since the takeover, ticket sales have plummeted and donations have nearly dried up.
In November, Washington National Opera’s artistic director Francesca Zambello saw the writing on the wall so to speak and scheduled a candid interview with the British newspaper The Guardian. In that interview, she revealed the effects of the hostile takeover of the Kennedy Center by the White House administration…empty seats, plunging donations, supporters so upset they were ripping up the opera’s mailed brochures and sending them back to her with angry notes that read ‘I’m never setting foot in there until the “orange menace” is gone or ‘Don’t you know history? Don’t you know what Hitler did? I refuse to give you a penny.’”
Zambello also noted that the Opera, “may be forced to move.”
After the article was published, Grennell was quick to react, demanding Zambello’s firing and said that the board wanted to end the contract with the opera company.
On January 9, the WNO board voted to leave the Kennedy Center with attorney Kenneth Feinberg saying, “it has nothing to do with the name change. It is strictly dollars and cents, and the Kennedy Center’s inability to understand the economics of how opera works.” The Kennedy Center was quick to respond by shutting down the Opera’s email and website.
The larger question is will the patrons return???
Presently, the Opera has found a temporary home at George Washington University.
Upon hearing the news that the Kennedy Center would be closing for renovations, a number of groups condemned the plan including members of Congress and a number of entertainment unions including the Actors’ Equity Association, American Federation of Musicians, American Guild of Musical Artists, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society – all whom worked at the Kennedy Center on a regular basis.
In a group statement the unions noted that the closure was, “harmful for the arts and creative workers in America” adding they had “no formal notice or briefing.”
The unions also stated that, “we will enforce our contracts and exercise all our rights under the law. We expect continued fair pay, enforceable worker protections, and accountability for our members in the event they cannot work due to an operational pause.”
In announcing the closure for “construction, revitalization, and complete rebuilding,” the White House administration said that The Center is “tired, broken, and dilapidated.”
Actor Patrick Page stated the remarks are a “lie”; adding in a Facebook post, “I have performed at the Kennedy Center many times and attended shows there recently. It is gorgeous and in fine shape—both out front and backstage. It is one of the best venues in the country … There is no need for renovations, no need for closure. It’s a scam and a shame.”
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse noted in a statement, “[Trump] illegally slapped his own name on the living memorial to President Kennedy, literally silencing Trustees who tried to speak up against it. Now, with his hostile takeover leading to artists’ withdrawals and declining ticket sales, he is covering up his failures by shuttering a national landmark that belongs to the American people—and he’s announcing it as a fait accompli before input from the Board, Congress, and others, as law and precedent dictate.”
The conception that later became the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts began during the Eisenhower administration; but did not open until 1971. The Center is named for former President John F. Kennedy who was assassinated on a Dallas street in 1963.