Kennedy Center
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President Donald Trump dismissed half the appointed trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ board on Feb. 12, 2025. The remaining board members, most of whom he had recently appointed, then voted to make Trump the center’s chair. The board also fired Deborah Rutter, who had served as the center’s president since 2014 and already planned to step down seven months later.
The board replaced Rutter with Richard Grenell, who served in the first Trump administration.
The Conversation U.S. asked E. Andrew Taylor, an arts management scholar, to explain how the Kennedy Center operates and sum up the significance of Trump’s unprecedented interference with its operations
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But directing the Kennedy Center could eat into his golf time.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/12/30/trump-kennedy-center-honors-ratings/
Kennedy Center Honors ratings tank after Trump takeover Hosted for the first time by President Donald Trump, the Kennedy Center Honors earned record-low viewership of a little over 3 million.
What do I know? I have never knowingly watched "Kennedy Center Honors" anyway.
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Everything Trump touches dies.
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Waves upon waves of artist csncellations.
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Three-time Oscar-nominated composer and Kennedy Center honoree Philip Glass has canceled a planned Abraham Lincoln-inspired performance at the Kennedy Center, citing a "direct conflict" with President Donald Trump's leadership at the historic venue.
In a short statement shared Tuesday to social media, Glass, 88, announced that he would no longer world-premiere his new symphony Lincoln at the Washington performing arts center.
"After thoughtful consideration, I have decided to withdraw my Symphony No. 15 'Lincoln' from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts," Glass wrote on X, using the full name of the JFK memorial venue that Trump has attempted to change to bear his own in recent months.
Glass, nominated by the Academy for scoring Notes on a Scandal, The Hours, and Kundun, continued, "Symphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony. Therefore, I feel an obligation to withdraw this Symphony premiere from the Kennedy Center under its current leadership."
https://ew.com/philip-glass-cancels-kennedy-center-symphony-donald-trump-conflict-11893471
When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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Tangent alert. I am about to go on a tangent.
"Take me to the venue."-- Madonna's best line in her best film with then husband Guy Richie.
BTW, "Swept Away" was one of the worst films ever made so the fact they made this short film is something of a miracle.
"Star" is a comedy and a morality play. It's very entertaining. Everything about it-- the directing, casting, acting, etc.--is practically flawless.
Incidentally, Madonna's late brother, Christopher, said she couldn't do comedy. Wrong.
I love this film. Honorary mention for Clive Davis' excellent performance.
Link to videoSo, getting back to the topic, of course, The Kennedy center is literally a national monument, and is a cultural institution.
I don't care, anymore, though, about its troubles, because, in the final analysis, JFK's memory cannot be and will not be changed by whatever happens to The Kennedy Center.
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Three-time Oscar-nominated composer and Kennedy Center honoree Philip Glass has canceled a planned Abraham Lincoln-inspired performance at the Kennedy Center, citing a "direct conflict" with President Donald Trump's leadership at the historic venue.
In a short statement shared Tuesday to social media, Glass, 88, announced that he would no longer world-premiere his new symphony Lincoln at the Washington performing arts center.
"After thoughtful consideration, I have decided to withdraw my Symphony No. 15 'Lincoln' from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts," Glass wrote on X, using the full name of the JFK memorial venue that Trump has attempted to change to bear his own in recent months.
Glass, nominated by the Academy for scoring Notes on a Scandal, The Hours, and Kundun, continued, "Symphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony. Therefore, I feel an obligation to withdraw this Symphony premiere from the Kennedy Center under its current leadership."
https://ew.com/philip-glass-cancels-kennedy-center-symphony-donald-trump-conflict-11893471
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Not even one Scaramucci's worth.
In a Jan. 16 news release, the Kennedy Center announced that Kevin Couch would be its new senior vice president of artistic programming.
On Jan. 22, the center posted the announcement on X.
Not a week later, Couch resigned.
Couch confirmed his resignation Wednesday but declined to comment further.
