President Donald Trump’s name was recently added to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC after a board he selected voted to rename the institution.
The Kennedy Center opened in 1971 and for decades has been seen as a nonpartisan celebration of the arts. Presidents typically nominate members of the Kennedy Center’s board. Trump’s board of trustees voted unanimously Thursday to add his name to the Kennedy Center memorial. The Kennedy Center stated the vote recognized Trump’s work to revitalize the institution.
Now that Trump’s name has been added to the memorial some musicians have canceled their concerts, leaving gaps in programming for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
The dance group Doug Varone and Dancers announced recently they would be canceling their April performances.
“With the latest act of Donald J. Trump renaming the Center after himself, we can no longer permit ourselves nor ask our audiences to step inside this once great institution,” the group said on Instagram.
The Kennedy Center’s interim president, Richard Grenell, said Monday night in a statement that the artists canceling “were booked by the previous far left leadership. Their actions prove that the previous team was more concerned about booking far left political activists rather than artists willing to perform for everyone regardless of their political beliefs. Boycotting the Arts to show you support the Arts is a form of derangement syndrome.”