{"id":25900,"date":"2025-12-31T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=25900"},"modified":"2025-12-31T10:51:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T09:51:26","slug":"trumps-name-on-kennedy-center-sparks-artist-exodus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/31\/trumps-name-on-kennedy-center-sparks-artist-exodus\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Name on Kennedy Center Sparks Artist Exodus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON (FN)<\/strong> \u2014 The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, long regarded as America\u2019s premier cultural institution, is facing a wave of cancellations after its board voted to rename the building to include President Donald Trump\u2019s name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision, made on Dec. 19, 2025, followed months of upheaval in which Trump ousted previous board members, installed allies, and later named himself chairman. New signage now reads: \u201cThe Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The renaming has triggered immediate backlash from artists. The Cookers, a veteran jazz supergroup, canceled their New Year\u2019s Eve concert, saying the decision came together quickly but acknowledging frustration from fans who had already purchased tickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doug Varone and Dancers, a New York\u2013based contemporary dance company, also withdrew from scheduled performances, citing discomfort with the renaming and the political climate surrounding the institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These cancellations add to a growing list of artists who severed ties earlier in 2025, including Issa Rae, the producers of Hamilton<\/em>, and musicians Ben Folds and Ren\u00e9e Fleming. Their departures came soon after Trump\u2019s takeover of the Kennedy Center board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
New signage, The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, is unveiled on the Kennedy Center, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell dismissed the cancellations, calling the artists \u201cfar\u2011left activists\u201d and accusing them of politicizing the arts. He insisted programming would continue, pointing to upcoming shows such as Monty Python\u2019s Spamalot<\/em> and the National Symphony Orchestra\u2019s January concerts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protests have erupted outside the building, with demonstrators holding signs and staging symbolic performances to oppose the renaming. Critics argue the move undermines the Kennedy Center\u2019s bipartisan legacy, while supporters say Trump\u2019s leadership reflects a new cultural direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the controversy, the Kennedy Center\u2019s calendar remains active. Spamalot<\/em> is scheduled for multiple performances across the Eisenhower Theater and Opera House in early January, while the National Symphony Orchestra continues its season with concerts throughout the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts warn the cancellations could thin out the Kennedy Center\u2019s holiday programming and damage its reputation as a neutral cultural hub. The institution, founded in 1971 as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, now finds itself at the center of a national debate over politics and the arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, the renamed Trump\u2011Kennedy Center is pressing ahead with its 2026 season, but the exodus of performers underscores a growing divide: whether America\u2019s flagship arts venue should remain a bipartisan memorial or serve as a platform for Trump\u2019s cultural agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (FN) \u2014 The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, long regarded as America\u2019s premier cultural institution, is facing a wave of cancellations after its board voted to rename the building to include President Donald Trump\u2019s name. The decision, made on Dec. 19, 2025, followed months of upheaval in which Trump ousted previous board members, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":25382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,4,5,1138],"tags":[3444,3449,2913,473,3452,3447,3450,3453,3440,2342,3442,3443,3448,3446,3451,3445,1577,3441],"class_list":["post-25900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-featured","category-international","category-politics","tag-artist-cancellations","tag-ben-folds","tag-cultural-controversy","tag-donald-trump","tag-doug-varone-dancers","tag-hamilton-producers","tag-issa-rae","tag-jazz-supergroup-the-cookers","tag-john-f-kennedy-2","tag-kennedy-center","tag-monty-python-spamalot","tag-national-symphony-orchestra","tag-performing-arts-news","tag-protests","tag-renee-fleming","tag-trump-renaming","tag-us-politics","tag-washington-dc-arts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/trump-kennedy-center-split-1.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25902,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25900\/revisions\/25902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}