President Trump left the arts world reeling with his social media announcement Friday that he intends to appoint himself chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington and immediately terminate members of the board of trustees “who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”
Shortly after the news broke, the Kennedy Center’s website became difficult to open due to “high traffic,” according to a note on its landing page.
“The Kennedy Center is aware of the post made recently by [the president] on social media,” the arts institution said in a statement by email. “We have received no official communications from the White House regarding changes to our board of trustees. We are aware that some members of our board have received termination notices from the administration.”
In its statement, the Kennedy Center noted that since its inception, the institution has “had a collaborative relationship with every presidential administration” and “a bipartisan board of trustees that has supported the arts in a non-partisan fashion.”
The statement also said the chairperson of the board is appointed by the center’s board members. “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,” the statement said.
Trump has long had a contentious relationship with the institution, considered one of the nation’s most prestigious avatars of culture. In 2017, he and First Lady Melania Trump skipped the Kennedy Center Honors after being criticized by honorees, marking only the fourth time in the organization’s history that a president was not in attendance.
The Kennedy Center is a federal facility authorized by an act of Congress in 1958 and maintains a public-private partnership with the federal government, which funds the building’s maintenance and operations. Its arts programs, performances and educational initiatives are paid for through ticket sales and gifts from donors.
The current chairman for more than a decade is businessman and philanthropist David M. Rubenstein. Rubenstein had planned to retire last month, but after Trump’s election, it was announced that he would stay in his role for an additional year. Board members are appointed by the president. At present, the board has 36 members, some of whom were appointed by Trump during his first term, including Pam Bondi — now his attorney general — and his former Transportation secretary, Elaine Chao.
President Biden filled a number of board vacancies during his last weeks in office, naming, among others, political strategist Mike Donilon. Honorary chairs of the Kennedy Center include first ladies Melania Trump, Jill Biden, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Laura Bush.
“Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation.”
This is not the first time in the early days of his second administration that Trump has taken a confrontational stance toward cultural organizations. One of his first acts as president was to dissolve the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, which was established by President Reagan in 1982 to advise on issues of cultural and artistic import.
Trump did not say in his social media post which Kennedy Center board members he planned to oust.
