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Last Tuesday, Philip Glass withdrew the delayed premiere in June of his latest symphony, No. 15. Originally meant to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2022, it is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, but the composer decided the values of the current Kennedy Center were “in direct conflict to the message of the symphony,” which is inspired by Lincoln’s 1838 Lyceum Address.

In rebuke to Glass, Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi’s quick response was: “We have no place for politics in the arts.”

Two nights later, the chairman of the Kennedy Center board (who also happens to be president of the United States) hosted at the “no place for politics” center a bevy of Republican politicians and donors for the gala premiere of “Melania,” a documentary about and produced by his wife, the first lady.

Three days after that, the president, with no warning to Congress (which administers the Kennedy Center), center staff or the public, announced on his social media platform that he would close the facility July 4 for two years to undertake a major renovation. This may get the center off the hook for putting together a new season, what with all its departures (voluntary and not) of competent artistic directors, but it also means the center’s one remaining major institution, and its crown jewel, the National Symphony, is suddenly homeless.

The fact is, the Kennedy Center has always been political. The same goes for orchestras. And Lincoln’s seeming role as a symphonic football is nothing new, either.

But political doesn’t — or, at least, once didn’t — necessarily imply partisan. In March 1981, two months into his presidency, Ronald Reagan turned up at the Kennedy Center for the premiere of a new production of Lillian Hellman‘s “The Little Foxes,” and was photographed happily congratulating a smiling Elizabeth Taylor backstage. Also present was the gruff playwright.

Hellman, who had been a member of the Communist Party and was called up in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, and Reagan, an avid anti-Communist, couldn’t have had much use for each other politically. But there they were, soaking up art and glamour (if maybe not in that order) together. It was also in 1952 and thanks to Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s Communist witch hunts that the first inklings of a national performing arts center in Washington, D.C. developed.

Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” for speaker and orchestra, written in 1942 in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack, had been slated for a performance at Dwight D. Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1952. Complaints about Copland’s leftist leanings pressured Eisenhower to cancel the performance, but left inklings in Ike’s mind that the nation needed a performing arts center in Washington, D.C. In 1955, he instituted a District of Columbia Auditorium Commission and that led to the National Cultural Center Act of 1958.

Bipartisan support became a no-brainer. Kennedy was an enthusiast and, in his presidency, both First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower worked together to support the cultural center. In 1963, just days before his assassination, JFK hosted a White House fundraiser for the center. A year later, President Lyndon B. Johnson broke ground for what was to become “a living memorial to John F. Kennedy” with the gold-plated spade that President Taft had used for the Lincoln Memorial.

The Kennedy Center proved political from Day 1. Leonard Bernstein was commissioned to write a theatrical piece for the center’s opening in 1971, which turned out to be an irreverent “Mass” — musically, liturgically, culturally and, most assuredly, politically. Most of all it was an unmistakably protest against the Vietnam War. In his own protest, President Nixon stayed home.

“Mass” was ridiculed by critics and sophisticates. And so was the Kennedy Center in its monstrosity. But the composition ultimately came to be seen as a precursor of musical Postmodernism and possibly Bernstein’s greatest work, a monument in its own right. The Brutalist monumentalism of the Kennedy Center also grew over time to be loved, increasingly bringing cachet to a diverse nation’s artistic needs.

All of that has, however, been called into question by a new administration noisily remaking the center as partisan and politicizing even renovation and Lincoln.

You don’t take on renovation of a single concert hall overnight, let alone an entire performance center with several theaters, including a major concert hall and opera house. This requires architects and acousticians deeply schooled in theaters, and each has its own acoustical needs. You touch anything, and it will affect the sound. Both the opera house and concert hall could use acoustical work, but that is a very big deal. If this sudden renovation comes as a surprise to staff, that means there have been no consultations, no proposals, no models, no feedback. Best to add to the budget some hundreds of millions of dollars to fix mistakes.

Before even considering anything else, a space has to be found for the National Symphony. It is possible to create temporary structures or renovate existing buildings into acoustical wonders, as architect Frank Gehry and acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota have proved. In Munich, the temporary Isarphilharmonie, which has Toyota acoustics, is so successful that some are saying the city doesn’t need a new concert hall after all.

So, given the timing of this precipitous announcement, it is hard to believe that something isn’t also going on with attitudes toward Lincoln and Glass’ displeasure with the Kennedy Center administration. For what it’s worth, Presidents Ford, Carter, George H.W. Bush, Clinton and Obama have all narrated Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.”

Lincoln has been central to Glass’ work for more than four decades. The composer first used Lincoln in Act V (known as “The Rome Section”) of Robert Wilson’s 12-hour opera, “the CIVIL warS: a tree is best measured when it is down” (a prescient title for current Kennedy Center thinking), which had been intended for the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival in L.A. but was never produced here for lack of funds.

Lincoln shows up in Glass’ 2007 opera, “Appomattox,” commissioned by San Francisco Opera and later revised and expanded for Washington National Opera in 2015. The opera offers a look at how the Civil War ended with high-minded statesmanship. The first act of Glass’ 2013 opera, “The Perfect American,” about the last days of Walt Disney, ends with a flashback of Walt, who idolized Lincoln, visiting Disneyland and getting into an argument about slavery with the animatronic Lincoln, which gets so worked up it attacks Walt.

Politics are rarely far away from orchestral or operatic life. At a recent appearance of the Chicago Symphony at the Soraya, Italian conductor Riccardo Muti followed an impressively grand performance of Brahms’ Fourth Symphony by telling the audience how the arts keep us honest and played as an encore the overture to Verdi’s “Nabucco,” as an example of how an opera could motivate public support for Garibaldi’s nationalist movement. Garibaldi also makes an appearance with Lincoln in the Glass/Wilson “Rome Section.”

A few days later at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, the thrilling Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería from Mexico City revealed an inspiring model of Latin American cooperation. On the program was Cuban composer Paquito D’Rivera’s “Concerto Venezolano,” featuring the fearless improvising Venezuelan trumpet soloist Pacho Flores. The concerto also featured solos on the Venezuelan cuatro by Héctor Molina, but his name was only announced last minute, due to current travel uncertainty.

One of the greatest recordings of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, his grab-you-by-the-gut answer to Stalin and celebration of Russia, is by the National Symphony under Mstislav Rostropovich, recorded in 1994 at the Kennedy Center. Stalin saw the symphony as his deification. Rostropovich exuded, in the Kennedy Center aura, the expression of an overwhelmingly triumphant celebration of the end of the Soviet repression. You can take the symphony and the opera out of the Kennedy Center, but you can’t take the essence of the Kennedy Center, the living memorial to the ideal of something larger than political ego, out of the symphony and opera.

Interiority is a concept that multimedia artist Sarah Sze has been fixating on lately.

“So much of what we experience is actually interior,” Sze said in a recent video interview. “We’ve become so exterior focused. We’re so outward looking.”

At a time when it’s all too easy to consume a never-ending stream of social media images, the celebrated New York-based artist is more interested in scrolling through the images stored inside her own mind.

Her new show, “Feel Free,” champions the mind’s eye, in all its random, fragmented glory. It brings a collection of new paintings and two immersive video installations to Gagosian Beverly Hills.

Sze is known for her unconventional sculptures and large-scale paintings, which she’s shown in such venues as the Museum of Modern Art, LACMA and the U.S. Pavilion at multiple Venice Biennales. In 2023, she left her mark on both the inside halls and the exterior walls of the Guggenheim Museum, and her public sculptures have transformed a grassy hillside as well as a pine grove and an international airport.

At the Gagosian show, Sze leaned into the intimate and fragile, while continuing her signature experimental streak.

In one of her newest pieces, “Once in a Lifetime” — part sculpture, part video display — precarious clusters of bric-a-brac form a mechanical marvel that appears to defy gravity.

A stack of small projectors is cradled inside of a fantastical tower fashioned out of crisscrossed tripods, metal poles and ladders festooned with an assemblage of toothpick structures, empty cardboard containers that once held crayons and Lactaid, dangling prisms, arts & crafts scraps, and paper cut-outs of deer and wolves (figures that appear throughout the show).

The bare gallery walls surrounding the monument flash with rotating projections of construction sites where buildings are being erected and demolished, clouds drifting across tranquil blue skies, and city lights twinkling then slowly dissolving into floating fractals. The Dadaist piece is every bit as off-kilter and fascinating as the Talking Heads song that inspired its title.

“The most important thing about my show is that I hope it’s really challenging and exciting and gives young artists license to do what they want to do,” Sze said.

“When they come in and say, ‘Wait … I didn’t know you could put up toothpicks going to the ceiling and throw a video through it and make it into a movie. I didn’t know you could put a pile of things on the floor in front of a painting.’ It’s like, ‘OK! Yes, you can!’”

Meanwhile, large canvases in the main gallery space are covered with oil and acrylic paints and printed backdrops dotted with an assortment of images: sleeping female figures; hands pointing, drawing and flashing peace signs; the sun at different stages of setting; birds in flight; wolves and deer in their natural habitats. Layered on top are paint splotches and streaks, as well as taped-on paper and vellum, blurring and obscuring the collage of figures underneath.

“One of the things I was thinking about was when we dream and then we wake up, there’s this extreme, fleeting moment where you’re trying to grasp the dream,” Sze said. “The dream is disappearing at the same time, and you’re trying to re-create those images.”

She went on to describe “a landscape turning into a different landscape, and then you’re falling, and then you’re turning, and then someone appears that you didn’t expect to be there.”

In addition to this spree of the subconscious, the artist offers glimpses of her creative process. Pooled on the ground below the canvases (and even dangling from the rafters above) is an assortment of the tools of her trade — from tape measures to paint scrapers. Brushes, pens and pencils lie next to the ripped cuffs of cotton workshirts, and drops of blue and white paint are splattered on the floor, extending the artwork beyond the wall.

Sze spent five days installing the show inside the gallery and the commonplace supplies incorporated into the pieces are what she dubbed “remnants of the workspace.”

If the paintings act as snapshots of dreamscapes, “Sleepers,” the video installation she debuted in 2024, sets those images in motion. Dozens of hand-torn paper fragments connected by rows of string become miniature projection screens, each flashing with images of the same sleeping heads, busy hands and forest animals. These are interspersed with flashes of TV static and ocean waves, all set to the sounds of humming, disjointed cello notes and deep breathing.

Directly in the center, a slender vertical window — part of the gallery’s architecture — illuminates the otherwise darkened room with a pillar of natural light, further contributing to the ethereal nature of the piece.

Viewed at the right angle, the piece resembles a giant eye. It’s the perfect visual cue to get visitors thinking about what we see and how we see it.

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Sunday that he will move to close Washington’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for two years starting in July for construction, his latest proposal to upend the storied venue since returning to the White House.

Trump’s announcement on social media follows a wave of cancellations by leading performers, musicians and groups since the president ousted the previous leadership and added his name to the building. Trump made no mention in his post of the recent cancellations.

His proposal, announced days after the premiere of “Melania,” a documentary about the first lady, was shown at the center, is subject to approval by the board of the Kennedy Center, which has been stocked with his handpicked allies. Trump chairs the center’s board of trustees.

“This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center, one that has been in bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years, and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment,” Trump wrote in his post.

Neither Trump nor Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell, a Trump ally, have provided evidence to back up their claims about the building being in disrepair, and in October, Trump had pledged the center would remain open during renovations. In Sunday’s announcement, he said the center will close July 4, when he said the construction would begin.

“Our goal has always been to not only save and permanently preserve the Center, but to make it the finest Arts Institution in the world,” Grenell said in a post, citing funds Congress approved for repairs.

“This will be a brief closure,” Grenell said. “It desperately needs this renovation and temporarily closing the Center just makes sense — it will enable us to better invest our resources, think bigger and make the historic renovations more comprehensive. It also means we will be finished faster.”

The sudden decision to close and reconstruct the Kennedy Center is certain to spark blowback as Trump revamps the popular venue. The building began as a national cultural center and Congress renamed it as a “living memorial” to President Kennedy — a champion of the arts during his administration — in 1964, in the aftermath of his assassination.

Opened in 1971, it serves as a public showcase year-round for the arts, including the National Symphony Orchestra.

Since Trump returned to the White House, the Kennedy Center is one of many Washington landmarks that he has sought to overhaul in his second term. He demolished the East Wing of the White House and launched a massive $400-million ballroom project, is actively pursuing building a triumphal arch on the other side the Arlington Bridge from the Lincoln Memorial, and has plans for Washington Dulles International Airport.

Leading performing arts groups have pulled out of appearances at the Kennedy Center, most recently composer Philip Glass, who announced his decision to withdraw his Symphony No. 15 “Lincoln” because he said the values of the center today are in “direct conflict” with the message of the piece.

Last month, the Washington National Opera announced that it will move performances away from the Kennedy Center in another high-profile departure after Trump’s takeover of the U.S. capital’s leading performing arts venue.

The head of artistic programming for the center abruptly left his post last week, less than two weeks after being named to the job.

A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center could not immediately be reached and did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Late last year, as Trump announced his plan to rename the building — adding his name to the building’s main front ahead of that of Kennedy — he drew sharp opposition from members of Congress, and some Kennedy family members.

Kerry Kennedy, a niece of John F. Kennedy, said in a social post on X at the time that she will remove Trump’s name herself with a pickax when his term ends.

Another family member, Maria Shriver, said at the time that it is “beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy,” her uncle. “It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not.”

Late Sunday evening, Shriver posted a new comment mimicking Trump’s own voice and style, and suggesting the closure of the venue was meant to deflect from the cancellations.

She said that “entertainers are canceling left and right” and the president has determined that “since the name change no one wants to perform there any longer.”

Trump has decided, she said, it’s best “to close this center down and rebuild a new center” that will bear his name. She asked, “Right?”

One lawmaker, Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex-officio trustee of the center’s board, sued in December, arguing that “only Congress has the authority to rename the Kennedy Center.”

Price and Mascaro write for the Associated Press. AP writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

Dublin offers partying, parks and pints galore which make it a perfect place to visit for 48 hours from the UK

Whenever I have been to Dublin I find there’s always a buzz of excitement in the air. There are so many places to visit with a warm and friendly atmosphere, and it’s all created by the locals. Whether it be music or museums, Guinness or gourmet food, it is a great location for a 48-hour break.

Our base was the Ruby Molly Hotel, fewer than 10 minutes away from the main action. Our room offered a calm haven away from all the hustle and bustle, and if you get back and still have the energy for a nightcap or some food, the bar is open late and the signature cocktails are recommended!

There are a lot of great pubs and bars in Dublin but perhaps the best place to start for a pint is The Guinness Storehouse, which is both a museum and the place where the black stuff is brewed in the city.

Anyone who has watched House Of Guinness on Netflix will know there is a lot of history and drama behind the dark drink. The Storehouse goes through the legacy of the Guinness family, the brewing innovations and the extraordinary advertising around the brand. At the end of your seven-floor tour you are rewarded at the top in the Gravity Bar with a pint and a chance to take in an incredible 360-degree view of the famous city.

If you get a taste for this kind of thing, there are also whiskey distilleries dotted around, including the famous Jameson Distillery, where you can also do a tour and sample more booze.

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For those short on time, The Little Museum of Dublin is famous for its 29-minute guided tour celebrating the art of great Irish storytelling, with history, comedy and some of the friendliest people in Ireland.

The city’s Trinity College is also a place to visit with many landmarks, including a breathtaking library known as The Long Room which is home to more than 200,000 books.

Dublin is a great city to tour on foot, and while you’re there you’ll also be able to see a number of landmarks, including Dublin Castle, the Ha’penny Bridge and The Spire sculpture.

The city offers a Do Dublin Freedom Pass which includes public transport and the Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing Bus Tour, a great way to get around if you want to relax and learn about the history of the city at the same time, with many of the drivers adding in their own jokes or songs. Of course, all of this exploring can help you build up an appetite.

The Woollen Mills is a must-visit for literary fans, given that author James Joyce once worked in this very location. Expect hearty fare with plenty of Irish beef on the menu alongside long ray and chips.

Meanwhile, The Church Bar & Restaurant is, as the name suggests, set in a former church, with Taylor Swift as a recent guest when she dined there during the Eras Tour. The food is quintessentially Irish, and very tasty, and if you don’t have time to eat here, it’s worth a stop for a drink at the bar, where there is traditional Irish music and dancing in the evenings.

For something that feels a bit more decadent, Dublin’s newest rooftop experience, DÍON offers a wonderful way to spend an evening. The food and cocktails – as well as the amazing views – made it a perfect place for a romantic date. Dishes included Irish crab soldiers, dover sole, king prawns and fillet steak.

In terms of places to drink, there are far too many to mention. The pubs and bars seem to continue to thrive here, with live music in many of the bars. The Temple Bar area is considered to be for tourists only and you will pay more for pints there, but the pubs will be busy and the atmosphere is always good.

Recommendations from locals for the best pints include The Lord Edward, The Long Hall, The Cobblestone and Mulligan’s. I can also vouch for the odd-sounding Darkey Kelly’s and the oldest pub in Dublin, The Brazen Head. And if you want a change from Guinness and pubs, you could try the cocktails at Bar 1661 instead.

Book it

Rooms at the Ruby Molly Hotel start from €96 (approximately £83). Dublin hosts a brilliant series events around New Year’s Eve which are the climax of a winter programme. For more information on the city and further afield too head to ireland.com

Pop artist Kii Arens made a name for himself in music over the years, creating concert posters for bands and vocalists such as Radiohead, Elton John, Dolly Parton, the Weeknd, Sonic Youth, Tame Impala, Diana Ross and more.

That work is taking center stage at Arens’ new downtown Los Angeles gallery, FAB LA, in a show titled “And the Winner Is.” Curated by Arens and featuring poster art of Grammy winners, the exhibition is set to open Friday, two days before the 2026 Grammys descend on the city, and just in time to welcome plenty of visiting celebrity faces to the gallery’s third-ever event.

A glittering party scene is part of every exhibition Arens hosts, dating back to his previous gallery, LA-LA Land, which he opened two decades ago on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood and ran until its lease came up last year.

FAB LA officially launched in October with “XO, LA: A Love Letter to Los Angeles,” an exhibition that reflected the eclectic voices and existential challenges that define L.A. culture with paintings, illustrations and mixed media works by Shepard Fairey, Corita Kent, Anthony Ausgang, Ashley Dreyfus, Paul Frank and others.

The flamboyant “Mick Rock’s Rocky Horror Art Show” followed in December. The exhibition was among the last events marking the famous cult film’s 50th anniversary, and featured Rock’s famous photographs alongside pieces by pop star designer Michael Schmidt and digital portraitist Plasticgod. As with previous events at LA-LA Land, the opening attracted rockers, drag queens and club world cognoscenti.

DJs Sean Patrick (Simon Says) and Chris Holmes (Paul McCartney’s touring DJ, and creative collaborator with Cosm) manned the decks, and “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” winner and podcaster, Alaska Thunderf—, performed as Tim Curry’s Dr. Frank-N-Furter, dancing and prancing around the grand environs.

There are galleries all over Los Angeles, but few can be described as works of art unto themselves. FAB LA is that and more.

Its majestic headquarters are housed inside downtown’s historic Fine Arts Building — a breathtaking palace-like structure with a 100-year history of craftsmanship and creativity.

Located near the intersection of 7th and Flower streets, the landmark building was featured in the 2009 film “(500) Days of Summer,” a hidden gem overshadowed in recent years by hectic street life, chain food spots and bustling business energy. Used primarily as an office building, its ornate design, carvings and sculptures — including a ground floor fountain with frolicking bronze youths — hadn’t invited much public attention or appreciation.

That changed late last year when Arens took over the first two floors.

“Historically, artists lived and worked inside this building,” he said during a recent opening. “This idea really resonated with me.”

Originally from St. Paul, Minn., Arens moved to L.A. in 2004 and promptly opened LA-LA Land. The Hollywood showroom debuted on election night 2004 with a group exhibition called “Happy War,” featuring anti-war works and Fairey as DJ. Wild and kitschy shows followed with opening fetes dedicated to colorful subjects including Andy Warhol, circus clowns, and Canadian television creators and puppeteers Sid and Marty Krofft.

In addition to creating art and DJing, Arens is also a musician, and his eclectic music projects reflect his nostalgic proclivities. They include a rock outfit called FLIPP, which he describes as, “the Sex Pistols meets the Spice Girls,” as well as a pop-duo called Jinx, and solo work that counts 4 Non Blondes’ Linda Perry as a collaborator.

Arens is a largely self-taught visual artist. His work has always leaned toward entertainment figures and musical subject matter, which led to major commissions for album covers and tour poster art — some of which will be featured in the upcoming exhibition at FAB LA.

When LA-LA Land’s lease expired, Arens sought a new place that would embrace his experimental energy. He also wanted a unique backdrop for showcasing imagery that “treats pop culture as a shared memory for all to take in,” he said. “Something worthy of being preserved, not just consumed.”

The Fine Arts Building’s longtime real estate representative, Gibran Begum, was looking for the same thing. Preservation was part of the conversation when the two connected, but both were also focused on revitalization and augmenting the structure’s old-world charms with something fresh and modern. The goal was to once again bring art lovers to the neighborhood.

A cohesive arts event had been lacking in the area since the monthly Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk scaled down in the face of traffic and permit issues, and more recently COVID closures. The event recently resumed, and though it’s much smaller Arens said he has high hopes for its growth, and for FAB LA’s place in its future.

As does Begum, who calls the Fine Arts Building “a rare and special space.”

“The second you enter, you’re somewhere else, it’s almost like walking into something in Florence, Italy,” Begum said. “We were looking for someone to help rejuvenate and reenergize it and who understood the culture of it.”

Designed in the Romanesque revival style by revered architects Albert R. Walker and Percy A. Eisen, who also created the nearby Oviatt Building as well as the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, the building’s exterior is embellished with dramatic columns and arches. Its interior features gargoyles, griffins and other mystical figures by sculptor Burt W. Johnson, as well as hand-crafted tiles by Ernest Batchelder and murals by Anthony B. Heinsbergen. A vintage elevator ferries guests between floors.

The opulent building opened on Dec. 8, 1926, attracting an estimated crowd of 27,000, and was named a Historic-Cultural Monument in 1974.

Though various artists have shown in the building over its 100-year history, FAB’s vibrant vision, focused on the intersection of design and fine art media, feels like the right fit for the current moment.

“I almost feel like the ghosts of some of the artists are looking down at me and smiling, knowing that what they loved is happening here again,” Arens said.

This includes immersive gatherings, which are a big part of Arens’ plans for FAB. “We’ll have movie premieres, live music events, poetry and I definitely want to have fashion,” Arens said. “The room would make a great runway!”

Charity is also part of the picture.

“And the Winner Is,” serves as a fundraiser for Oxfam, which works to relieve global poverty. Arens said he’s been hosting charity events for the group for the last five years — always right around the Grammys.

“We’ll have a bunch of amazing vinyl records donated by Rhino, and we’ll have clothing donated from famous musicians. Matt Pinfield is DJing and so is Jeffrey Ross,” Arens said.

The exhibition, which closes March 8, will feature some of what Arens calls his “greatest hits,” including an ebullient Liza Minnelli portrait, and other significant prints such as a black-light poster design of Dolly Parton, and a Van Halen print representing Eddie Van Halen’s famed red-, black- and white-splattered “Frankenstein” guitar design on a notebook.

“I’m into simplifying images until they become familiar, immediate and emotional,” Arens said of his work. “I like to strip images down to what people recognize instantly. The feeling comes first, then I’m focused on evoking optimism, color and joy.”

Up next: A show in April in association with the animation studio Titmouse and dedicated to the art of animation.

“In this moment where everything feels disposable, I want to make something that is solid, something you stand in front of, not scroll past,” Arens said.

World-renowned composer Philip Glass abruptly canceled June’s world premiere of Symphony No. 15 “Lincoln” at the Kennedy Center, saying its message does not align with the vision for the venue under the Trump administration.

“Symphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony. Therefore, I feel an obligation to withdraw this Symphony premiere from the Kennedy Center under its current leadership,” Glass wrote Tuesday in a letter to the board that was shared with The Times.

“We have no place for politics in the arts, and those calling for boycotts based on politics are making the wrong decision,” Roma Daravi, vice president of media relations at the Kennedy Center, said in response.

President Trump has served as board chair since early last year when he fired the existing board and appointed former ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, as president. The newly installed board promptly installed Trump in his current position. The president’s pursuit of a deeply conservative agenda for the arts unleashed unprecedented chaos at the nation’s premiere performing arts center, resulting in massive upheaval and wave after wave of prominent artist cancellations.

The news that Glass was calling off his appearance also caught off guard the National Symphony Orchestra. The NSO commissioned the symphony in 2022 for the Kennedy Center’s 50th anniversary, and Glass was late to deliver. The symphony was scheduled to be performed with the NSO on June 12 and 13.

“We have great admiration for Philip Glass and were surprised to learn about his decision at the same time as the press,” Jean Davidson, the orchestra’s executive director, said in an email.

The news comes amid a growing chorus of high-profile cancellations that have occurred since the center’s board voted last month to rename the venue the Trump-Kennedy Center, and quickly added the president’s name above that of Kennedy’s on the exterior of the building.

Jazz drummer Chuck Redd pulled out of a Christmas Eve show and the jazz group the Cookers canceled two New Year’s Eve performances. Banjo player Béla Fleck also stepped away from concerts with the NSO and “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz said he no longer plans to host a May 15 gala at the center.

The arts world was rocked by the news earlier this month that the Washington National Opera’s board approved a resolution to leave the venue it has occupied since 1971. Kennedy Center leadership, including Grenell, quickly shot back that it was the board that asked the WNO to depart.

“We have spent millions of dollars to support the Washington Opera’s exclusivity and yet they were still millions of dollars in the hole — and getting worse,” Grenell wrote on social media.

Most recently, the center’s website announced that soprano Renée Fleming would no longer perform in two scheduled shows. “A scheduling conflict” was the reason cited, but speculation about the opera star’s departure swirled as the center’s artistic losses mounted amid widely reported plummeting ticket sales.

During the recent upheaval, arts watchers have begun wondering about the future of the NSO, which, along with the recently departed WNO, represents the twin pillars of artistic programming at the center.

According to Daravi, the NSO isn’t pulling out of the venue.

“The relationship is strong, and we have a wonderful season here with Maestro [Gianandrea Noseda] in his 10th year leading the NSO,” Daravi wrote in an email last week, noting the “record-breaking success at the recent Gala benefiting the NSO which launched the new season. The event raised $3.45 million, marking an all-time fundraising record for the organization.”

On Monday Trump sought to boost his financial management of the venue in a Truth Social post that read, “People don’t realize that the Trump Kennedy Center suffered massive deficits for many years and, like everything else, I merely came in to save it, and, if possible, make it far better that ever before!”

The center’s calendar is looking increasingly sclerotic as big names continue to defect, with the NSO providing much-needed padding as it moves on in the face of unending change.

Eclectic and cozy define the spirit of this North Hollywood coffee shop owned by Jennifer Jackson and Libby Ward. The name (and whale logo) is a playful twist on corporate giant Starbucks (with “Starbuck” being a character in “Moby Dick”), and the satire extends to the names of the drink sizes: guppy (small), trout (medium) and whaley (large).

Inside, the whimsical nautical vibe continues in the front room with a floor mural, resembling the deep blue sea and various colorful sea creatures, done by local illustrator Tak Sparks.

Three back rooms with bold colored walls — green, blue, yellow and orange — feel like living rooms with wooden stools, desks, chairs and tables, area rugs, upholstered armchairs and worn leather seats. Out back, a shaded patio strung with Edison bulbs extends the seating.

The walls recently featured art by local comic artist/illustrator Josh Maikis, as well as art by two of the shop’s employees’ parents, J.H. Smith’s ink and intaglio prints and Carolyn Root’s wildlife paintings.

In the front space, bags of free coffee grounds are available for customers to take home for composting. There’s also a propagation station where you can leave or take plant clippings.

Beyond seasonal drinks and espresso-based drinks, try unusual signature offerings like the Shiny Squirrel, a blended espresso with caramel, whipped cream, white and dark chocolate, and sprinkles on top. Or, if coffee isn’t your thing, there are smoothies, hot chocolate and Italian sodas, and a wide array of teas. Jackson is also an herbalist and makes some of them, including Good Night Moon and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, with her own herbs.

Here, the coffee doesn’t stop at the beverages. Even a caprese sandwich has coffee in the balsamic vinegar.