President Donald Trump left the arts world reeling with his announcement on Truth Social that he intends to appoint himself chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and immediately terminate multiple 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 Friday, the Kennedy Center’s website became difficult to reach due to “high traffic,” according to a note on its landing page.
Trump has long had a contentious relationship with the storied arts institution, considered the nation’s most prestigious avatar of culture. In 2017, he and First Lady Melania Trump skipped that year’s 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 , there are 36 board members, some of whom were appointed by Trump during his first term, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and his former transportation secretary, Elaine Chao.
President Biden filled a number of board vacancies during his last weeks in office, naming, among others, former White House press secretary 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 Truth Social. “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 the president has taken a muscular stance against existing 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 Ronald Reagan in 1982 to advise on issues of cultural and artistic import.
Trump did not say which board members he planned to oust in his Truth Social post. The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the president’s stated plans.