Back in March, this column noted that the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, having had Donald Trump appoint himself head of the board of trustees, had seen numbers from ticket sales and donations fall precipitously, to the point that people worried about the national center’s fiscal stability. The Kennedy Center is a quasi-government, quasi-private endeavor. According to Wiki, ticket sales to the programs sustain the programming:
Authorized by the National Cultural Center Act of 1958, which requires that its programming be sustained through private funds, the center represents a public–private partnership. Its activities have included educational and outreach initiatives almost entirely funded through ticket sales and gifts from individuals, corporations, and private foundations. The center receives annual federal funding to pay for building maintenance and operations.
Thus, the Center itself is a mix in which a national company, whether symphony, opera, ballet, or others, combines with the center site, which is an attraction in and of itself. Programs must be profitable to be self-sustaining. And yet, under Trump, those profits have been put in danger by – remarkably, those with an alternative agenda, destruction of DEI, even if it comes with destruction of the arts, as a mass casualty. As I wrote in March, when noting that companies were cancelling shows and withdrawing from summer dates:
From its inception in the 1970s to now, the center has been a source of national pride without regard to the party in power – no one thought to bring that agenda. The ideal is that arts, like science, education, and faith – inform politics, not the other way around. But all of the ideals above can be put at risk if one ignores the consequences of political overkill.
Well, the Trump administration did ignore the consequences of political overkill, and companies did bow out, especially during the critical summer tourist season, this includes the Broadway play “Hamilton,” which was practically written to run in DC during the summer, and ticket sales and donations are now plummeting as evidenced by the hard numbers released in report in The New York Times as covered by Rawstory.
The numbers are simply devastating to the center, to the arts, and to the Center’s fans around the country:
“Single-ticket sales were down roughly 50 percent in April and May, compared with the same period in 2024, according to the data. Subscriptions, traditionally an important source of revenue, have also declined significantly this season: Revenue was down 82 percent for theater and 57 percent for dance. At the National Symphony Orchestra, one of the Kennedy Center’s flagship ensembles, subscriptions declined by 28 percent, the data showed. At Washington National Opera, subscriptions were down 25 percent.”
Holy shit. Things have fallen from anywhere near “One half,” or “More.” Subscription revenue is not down 50%, but it is awfully close.
Indeed, overall subscription revenue “was projected at $2.7 million in the coming fiscal year, compared with $4.4 million this year,” said the report, citing a confidential source within the organization.
And, as Rawstory writes, this is at a point in time when the administration is busy dealing with other self-inflicted wounds:
All of this comes as the Kennedy Center is embroiled in a completely separate drama over the Trump administration having to fire a far-right staffer who proclaimed homosexuality is a “punishment” against the United States and pushed conspiracy theories about former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate — an issue that ironically marked a major part of Trump’s own political rise.
Right. So that “far Right” staffer has a problem with LGBTQ Americans? Well then, we’re willing to bet that he has a problem with the performing arts because for whatever reason, people can speculate if they like – the performing arts go hand in hand with gay like, well – like two married gay men. It may be a chicken and the egg thing, I don’t know. Is one first gay and then a performing artist, or is one such a “fabulous” performing artist that one later simply finds oneself gay at some point? We cannot know. We can only marvel at the talent this country produces, much of it from the LGBTQ+ community. As the MAGAs are only now learning, you take the “DEI” out of society, and you will discover holes in the fabric of business, government, science, education, and art, especially art, that you never knew to worry about because you never had to fear losing it over a policy or political stance. The MAGAs thought they could do it and they’ll miss Hamilton.
Donald Trump thought he could appoint himself the head of the board at the Kennedy Center, and that they would suddenly run DEI out of Washington and bring in Trump-supporting acts… In the process, they alienated a lot of people who came to the symphony to forget about the fact that they don’t like Democrats, or Republicans, or don’t want to write a speech tomorrow, or attend a hearing, all the things that Washingtonians and visitors “do” throughout the day that isn’t political. Which is most things.
Interesting that, in trying to depoliticize society by “banning” DEI, the Trump administration ended up politicizing the performing arts, all of which couldn’t be gayer even if Liza was the mayor – as was once sung at the Tonys.
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God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and also on X at @JasonMiciak, and please follow me now on Bluesky.
Zoomers, we are always in need of donations. It’s been an especially rough month, and my own health has not been great these past few weeks, which just adds to the frustration. Anything you can spare will be immensely appreciated. And thank you to all who have donated generously already. Ursula
This will be a new feat for Trump. Bankrupting an entity that he doesn’t even own.