09/18/2026
It's not too late to go!
Tomorrow (Friday) evening — 6:30-8pm. Join us! ✊
A link to more info is in the comments.
Don't drive. There will be very limited parking. Use rideshare or Metro. The walk from Foggy Bottom Metro is 8 minutes (map link in the comments).
Summary of the Kennedy Center saga:
For more than 50 years, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, the Kennedy Center operated as a noncontroversial public-private partnership, with federal funding providing only a small minority of its budget (20% or less).
Then came Trump. He fired nearly the entire board and the Center's management. They made him chairman and put his name on the building (which is a memorial to a slain president).
The new management canceled scheduled shows with artists they did not like. Many other artists reluctantly (because playing there is a big deal for most of them) canceled their own shows in protest. Resident performing arts organizations like the Washington Opera found new homes. Because of the artistic interference and/or the dearth of quality shows ticket sales plummeted, and the Center's financial situation quickly became dire.
$257 million had already been appropriated by Congress for much-needed repairs.
Then the courts made them take Trump's name off the building (because was illegal).
Now Trump's board has closed the Kennedy Center and he says the repairs won't happen unless his name goes on back it. He and his people are saying the building may have to be torn down.
From sponsoring organization Hands Off The Arts: "With the future still very much uncertain, now more than ever, the Center needs you to stand up for freedom of expression and against authoritarian overreach into arts and culture institutions."
