The main lobby of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
In Friday’s (2/7) New York Times, Shawn McCreech, Maggie Haberman, and Javier C. Hernández write, “President Trump announced his intention on Friday to bring the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington more firmly under his control, saying he would dismiss several board members and install himself as chairman. ‘At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN,’ Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.” The Kennedy Center is the home of the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, and Fortas Chamber Music Series, and presents hundreds of performances in all genres every year. “Mr. Trump said he would ‘immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.’ He added: ‘We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP.’… The current chairman is David M. Rubenstein, the financier and philanthropist who has held the position for more than a decade. … Rubenstein … was initially appointed by former President George W. Bush … The Kennedy Center said in a statement on Friday evening that it had not received any communication from the White House regarding the changes to its board and acknowledged that some board members had received termination notices. ‘Per the Center’s governance established by Congress in 1958, the chair of the board of trustees is appointed by the center’s board members,’ the statement said. ‘There is nothing in the center’s statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; however, this would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Center’s board.’… Mr. Trump’s plan to remake the board would break with years of precedent at the Kennedy Center, which has long prided itself on a tradition of bipartisanship…. The Kennedy Center’s board, which has 36 members, has recently been evenly divided between Republican and Democratic appointees.”
