Photo by M. Capellan 2025
We are happy to welcome Miriam Capellan as returning Guest Blogger! Capellan is a Washington D.C. area public school music teacher, violist, and choral enthusiast.
Her previous blogs with us are Let’s State Firmly “White Supremacy Has No Place Here” and A Composer Joins the Zoom Call. Mallory Miller and Luke Hall (both mentioned below) helped with content and fact-checking for this article.
Saturday morning on F Street was cold and a little windy. I made my way with my newly-drawn sign down to the entrance of Tazza Cafe, past some dog walkers who called, “Hey, what time’s the protest? We’re coming!” Already assembled were the Rapid Response Choir, members of Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen’s team, Mallory Miller of Hands Off the Arts, Luke Hall of Pack the House Purple, and several journalists. All of us there to make our voices heard, yet again, over the appalling, fascist overreach into one of our nation’s most valuable artistic treasures: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. This time the blow to the center’s national artistic vision felt especially egregious. The facade itself had been desecrated: no longer a memorial to a president who truly believed in the power of the Arts to transform and transcend. A crude, ill-matching font placed above John F. Kennedy’s name declared “Donald J. Trump” as co-memorialized. Odd, of course, as he is still living.
At this December 20th protest, several speakers reminded attendees that the crass name addition is just the latest incidence of unnecessary political meddling at our nation’s premiere arts institution. Since February 2025, over 100 staff members from rank and file to senior staff have been fired without just cause. These staff members, including Mallory Miller — lately the assistant manager of dance — point to these firings as clear retaliation for union organizing. Other fired staff members say they were victims of politically motivated and racist house-cleaning: doing away with a top Jazz curator and the entire Social Impact team.
Mallory Miller and other former Kennedy Center staff have formed the grass-roots organization Hands Off the Arts. The group sometimes overlaps in protests with Free DC, a group that combats Washington, D.C.s use as a pillar of authoritarianism, by protesting the unconstitutional ICE and National Guard presence in D.C. and the Congressional overturn of the revised criminal code in 2023, among other actions. Hands Off the Arts also shows up to demonstrate against the Kennedy Center’s use as a free playground for Trump’s political allies. Most recently, these allies included human rights abusers FIFA: Féderation Internacional de Football Association. The guiding principles of Hands Off the Arts include empowering arts workers, defending free speech through artistic expression, resisting authoritarianism, and fighting co-option of the arts through government overreach. Additionally the organization demands that Richard Grenell be removed from his position as Kennedy Center executive director, all fired Kennedy Center employees be reinstated, that management immediately acknowledge The Kennedy Center Arts Workers Union as stated, and completely remove the mask ban for Kennedy Center workers.
Luke Hall, the founder of Pack the House Purple: Support Kennedy Center Artists While Protesting Kennedy Center Takeover also spoke at this protest, along with two current Kennedy Center staff members. The message of solidarity all three of these speakers shared was clear: our nation’s premiere arts institution should be for everyone. The many arts professionals who have made it their life’s work to ensure the Kennedy Center is welcoming, accessible, and joyful for all deserve our respect. Instead, most have been unfairly maligned, mocked, or even fired by the inexperienced, partisan takeover team: Richard Grenell, Donna Arduin Kauranen, and Lisa Dale.
In addition to Kennedy Center staff and volunteers, current and former patrons also expressed dismay on Donald Trump’s self-appointment to the board of the Kennedy Center, his meddling in programming and management, and now the defacement of the monument itself. Appalled and disgusted concert-goers at the protest and beyond share a desire to “never set foot in the Kennedy Center until Trump and his cronies are gone” while some refuse to back down as patrons. Pro-boycott protesters sometimes express surprise that National Symphony Orchestra musicians or Washington National Opera artists choose to stay and work under current leadership. However, as union leaders like Miller have pointed out, a mass walkout or what amounts to a wildcat strike is not a realistic expectation for artists and professionals whose home has been the Kennedy Center for so many decades. Likewise, the assumption that a suitable, affordable space can be found as an alternate venue for the NSO and WNO is unrealistic. Washington, D.C. and its surrounding suburbs are far from sleepy and larger venues unfailingly have very full concert bookings of their own. Yes, even colleges and universities. It takes years of peak performance and high artistic standards to even get a position with the NSO or WNO. For most it will be the pinnacle of their career. Can audience members really expect these artists to simply walk away, all because American voters have put a racist, would-be dictator into power?
Folks not familiar with the Washington, D.C. area or the Kennedy Center in general may wonder what the Kennedy Center actually does. And why is it so important that the Kennedy Center provides enrichment and education not only to the entire country but specifically to Washington, D.C. area residents? Every year the Kennedy Center Education makes a full season of high-quality music and theater available to schools at a fraction of the price of regular tickets. They work with local Title I schools to fund field trip transportation. The Kennedy Center’s teacher education program in arts integration is unparalleled in the nation. Additionally, youth artists and emerging talents from Washington, D.C. and beyond find avenues to perform and gain mentorship from experts in the field, all through Kennedy Center educational programs or the Social Impact Department.
New Trump-approved institutional leaders at the Kennedy Center such as Richard Grenell, Donna Arduin Kauranen, and Lisa Dale have claimed that by purportedly only serving the Washington, D.C. area- it functions as an elitist, out of touch artistic entity greedily misusing tax payer funds. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Washington, D.C. itself is a microcosm of the income disparity and racial inequality across our country. A city with a majority Black population, the overall wealth of Washington, D.C. is unequally distributed, with Black residents experiencing the highest poverty rate at 21%. 68% of Black children in the district live 300% below the poverty line… 300 percent! Institutions like the Kennedy Center can and should be providing arts access and outreach to those with the least access, as they have been doing for many years- even as our local and federal government continues to fail these children and families in every other essential way. I have been fortunate enough to be present for many years of school performances of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Kennedy Center. The iconic Revelations played annually at deeply discounted prices for school groups: until this year. In the audience, I saw children and teachers from across the district and neighboring counties shouting and cheering. There were often tears. One of the most revered and celebrated works of art of the past 20th century was on stage in front of them, celebrating the Black American experience through art so profound it cannot be described with words. Is this elitist? Is this a ‘waste’? I hardly think so.
Yet almost all of the Social Impact Team was fired in March 2025. The last remaining team member was fired this September. The VP of Social Impact, artist and playwright Mark Bamuthi Joseph shared a video from his office upon the moment of his departure, sharing that the new leadership of the Kennedy Center was “doing its best to disavow much of the literal color that has made this place special”: essentially taking down everything black. Bamuthi Joseph’s team was responsible for multiple impact projects including commissioning works from Black composers. Additionally, the entire dance programming team was fired in August 2025, including Miller, founding member of Hands Off the Arts. Interim Director Grenell also casually floated the idea of completely shuttering the Education Department as, according to him, it does not make any money. Luckily, to this date, cooler-headed staff members still employed by the center have convinced him to keep the department running- including staff that run school outreach and programming. For now. As alluded to earlier, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will not be performing at the Kennedy Center this year, for the first time since 1971 when it performed at the center’s opening. This was a choice made by Ailey leadership and they have indicated a desire to return to the Kennedy Center in the future.
The new management has caused irreparable damage to a formerly vibrant, diverse, and cutting edge home for the arts in our nation’s capital. Worse, the moral injury, as Bamuthi Joseph describes it, cannot be undone. A refrain common to many reacting to the fascist, racist policies of the Trump regime is “the cruelty is the point”. In the case of Grenell ousting the Social Impact Team, the Dance Programming Team, firing the Jazz Curator: the cruelty is the point. The racism is the point. And as departments and staff members reeled from all the upheaval, the uncertainty of the future of their jobs or departments, Grenell pulled out all of the stops for a decidedly White Nationalist Christmas Extravaganza- headed by a musician, teacher, and self-described author from Liberty University, Charles Billingsley. Unsurprisingly, the turnout for the ‘extravaganza’ was meager, even with two tiers of seats blocked-off from sale in the Opera House. According to Broadway World, a sparse-looking crowd for this event endured awkward transitions and issues with audio and balance. Even with the recruiting of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to perform a dramatic reading on stage, the White Christian Nationalist extravaganza was forced to hide ticket sale data, normally visible on the website, in order to save face.
It is clear that great harm has been done and the chipping away of values once central to the function of the Kennedy Center will likely continue. Artists booked to perform at the center face a difficult choice and many have, understandably, walked away. Others have taken their time on the stage to protest through their art. Every day arts patrons, volunteers, and educators struggle to see a clear path forward. Scores have canceled subscriptions, sought programming at other venues, or opted their children out of Kennedy Center field trips. With a regime like Trump’s it is hard to know what impact a boycott OR in-person protest will have. Management decisions are made on whims, and facts are routinely ignored. Myself and many in Pack the House Purple believe that showing up, speaking out, and taking up space is our best chance to salvage the essential pieces of the John F. Kennedy Center: like the Education Department, like the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera. While these actions may not result in material change under the current Kennedy Center leadership, they express the widely-held disappointment and anger with the rash and illegal acts of the current regime, and give voice to the demand that Kennedy Center return to previous successful egalitarian practices.
Meanwhile, across our country, arts and the humanities continue to be under attack. Through book bans, gutting of higher ed humanities departments, and proliferation of AI ‘art’ in place of paid, skilled artists, we are on the brink of profound cultural fallout. Symphony Orchestras, Opera Companies, Arts Education, and Social Impact Outreach may not be the hottest new thing. Investing in them will not enrich anyone overnight. However, maintaining this cultural thread that ties us together and its symbolic home at the Kennedy Center, will have untold value to future generations. Whatever the form protest may take, it is important to continue to speak out and speak up. Whether boycotting or attending in-person and sharing information with other audience members, concerned patrons should educate themselves on what is actually happening at the Kennedy Center. Learn what is the recorded financial truth, not just the propaganda that Grenell is peddling. Share with friends, family, and colleagues what our experience has been at this beautiful, functional, and accessible monument. Trump and Grenell repeat the lie that the building was in disrepair, crumbling into the Potomac. In my opinion, this is nothing but a racist, partisan dog-whistle that so many of his supporters will eagerly repeat, never having set a foot in the center themselves. Current and recent Kennedy Center patrons know the truth.
This careening administration has caused extreme damage to so many institutions in our country, not just to arts programming but also to the fields of science and agriculture. The prospect of losing cultural resources like the National Symphony Orchestra, the Washington National Opera, or the Kennedy Education Department reminds me of the sad fate of USDA seed bunkers. These bunkers are, or were, research facilities preserving a wide variety of seeds from wheat to corn, potatoes to sugar beets. Scientists maintaining a diverse array of seeds in this way is what has protected our U.S. and global agricultural system from mass crop failure and famine for decades. But since DOGE cuts began last year, the future of these researchers and the seeds they carefully maintain is uncertain. As researchers have been forced to abandon their specimens, these seeds have been slowly dying, quietly expiring in a bunker in Fort Collins, Colorado. Who knows what horrible consequences we could see as a result of this short-sighted government failure. Likewise, we cannot allow our nation’s greatest arts resources to quietly expire. We must speak up and speak out. Get political! Life IS political.
You might not do politics, but politics is going to do you. — Charles de Montalembert, 1871, roughly translated
As the speakers at Saturday’s protest reminded us: it is Art that has the unique ability to speak truth to power; and as the Rapid Response choir led us all in song singing “I’m stickin’ with the union, ‘til the day I die!” we heard voices united under one cause. All who were present, and I believe the majority of the residents of this country, truly want to see a rich arts community in which the people choose what they will see on our nation’s stages, not government censors and fascist grifters. On the exterior of the Kennedy Center are many quotes from John Fitzgerald Kennedy. My favorite is this:
I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty…I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit. — John F. Kennedy, 1962
The symbol of the rose appears on the emblem for the “Hands Off the Arts” organization. A delicate and beautiful icon that may call to mind the union anthem “Give us bread, but give us roses”. The White Rose or Weiße Rose was a non-violent Nazi Resistance group started by a group of students. The rose may even remind us of the White House Rose Garden, first installed in the early 20th century but famously revamped and utilized by the Kennedy White House. The rose garden’s central lawn has since been paved over and many rose bushes removed by the Trump White House to make way for champagne-soaked parties thanking wealthy donors and loyal allies. But it is important to remember that not all of the roses are gone. There is both strength and beauty in the symbol of the rose and, like the Kennedy Center itself, the rose does not need to remain a symbol for a King. The American People, everyday common workers, and organizers can take back the promise of the Kennedy Center, just as we can and will keep the symbol of the rose for ourselves, “Bread and roses, bread and roses”.
Tara Hoot, a phenomenal local DC Drag Performer spoke to the crowd of protesters saying “…DON’T. LOSE. HOPE!” and entreated us all to leave with the following action items: continue to connect and come out to protest, support the Kennedy Center workers who are attempting to unionize, call our congresspeople and demand that they take action to reverse this renaming, demand that they extend the ACA subsidies to Americans who are overwhelmed with health care costs, and demand that instead of having to focus on a narcissistic man’s delusions of grandeur, Congress focus instead on reversing his illegal actions.
To further the appreciation of culture among all the people, to increase respect for the creative individual, to widen participation by all the processes and fulfillments of art – this is one of the fascinating challenges of these days. — John F. Kennedy, 1962
Please Support: