The Kennedy Center Hostile Takeover

This past February, Deborah Rutter, the President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., was fired by Donald Trump after serving there for over fourteen years. The U.S. President, criticizing the Kennedy Center's programming as "woke culture", then replaced many of the board members with his supporters (including his wife), who promptly elected him chairman of the board. JFK’s portrait was removed, and replaced by that of Trump. A new President of the Center was installed, a long time Trump insider, Ric Grennell.

Since then, all the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and so-called “woke” performances have been put on hold (or canceled in protest by the artists themselves, such as the mega hit musical Hamilton), opera star Renee Fleming resigned as artistic consultant, and the Board is evaluating what they are going to go forward producing at the Center. “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA”, Trump wrote on Truth Social. “There’s no more woke in this country.”

Kennedy’s portrait has been removed and replaced by that of Trump.

"Art knows no national boundaries. Genius can speak in any tongue, and the entire world will hear it and listen." John F Kennedy

The stated purpose of the Kennedy Center is: to present world-class arts, provide educational opportunities, and promote a culture of inclusiveness and diversity. What is on its stage reflects how our country views the world around us. And it is a celebration and showcase of who we are as Americans.

At least it was.

This takeover, of course, is a well-known tactic used by authoritarian regimes. Dictators from Hitler to Orban get into power and immediately crown themselves king of culture. This is because they realize that the arts have a tremendous impact on the art witness, and they want control over that message. Having a thinking, well-informed population is not what they’re hoping for.

The tiny budget of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is now on the chopping block, but the relatively miniscule $150 million it disburses annually to artists and art organizations will hardly help offset any imbalances in the U.S. government’s $6.75 trillion dollar budget that it’s part of (about .04%). So the reason for axing it can only mean one thing: more control over what art is seen.

“I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty…an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft. I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the standards of artistic accomplishment and which will steadily enlarge cultural opportunities for all of our citizens. And I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well.” John F Kennedy

When the President says, “There’s no more woke in this country,” what he means is he will not tolerate awareness of racial discrimination and social injustice. The term woke has been used by the Black Lives Matter movement for decades now, and grew out of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1970’s. It would seem impossible to get rid of it, as it has become a call for change and tolerance that many, perhaps most, of the people in the United States embrace, and in fact is what the U.S. has come to represent in more reasonable times.

But at its core, woke means “to be awake”, “to rouse from sleep”, and I can’t think of a better alarm for these troubled times. If we don’t awaken and get busy defending our right to be awake, we will surely follow in the steps of past regimes and their horrifying ways of getting rid of any who disagree with or look different from them. Sure, they have all ultimately failed, but at what cost?

“If more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place in which to live.” John F Kennedy