The president promised to push the center toward his ‘vision for a Golden Age of American Arts and Culture.’
OXON HILL, Md.—Richard Grenell, interim executive director of the Kennedy Center in Washington, outlined President Donald Trump’s vision for the performing arts venue.
The Washington mainstay “should be the premier center in the nation’s capital for the arts,” Grenell, who is also Trump’s envoy for special missions, told The Epoch Times’ Jan Jekielek on Feb. 20 during the Conservative Political Action Committee convention.
In early February, Trump removed the institution’s leadership and appointed new members to the board of trustees, who elected him chairman.
The present-day Kennedy Center was founded as the National Cultural Center in 1958 by former President Dwight Eisenhower. President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy were substantial supporters of the project, raising millions for its construction starting in November 1962. Two months after JFK’s assassination in November 1963, President Lyndon Johnson signed an act of Congress into law, designating it as a living memorial to the late president.
The arts center is supported by government funds and private donations.
In recent times, Trump has been vocal in his criticism of the center’s actions, which he said were promoting “anti-American propaganda.” The president promised to push the center toward his “vision for a Golden Age of American Arts and Culture.”
Some performers, including a national network of drag artists and allies, have voiced their frustration with Trump’s leadership, and some consultants, including musician Ben Folds and singer Renée Fleming, have resigned. Also, actor Issa Rae and author Louise Penny have canceled appearances.
Mayor Muriel Bowser weighed in on the president’s changes while speaking at the National Press Club on Feb. 21, saying, “Canceling shows is bad for the arts community.”
Bowser, who has clashed with Trump in the past, said Trump’s new plans for the center are “bad for business.”
“It’s a local institution, but it’s America’s arts center, so people come from around the country to see shows, and so I don’t know how we benefit at all from canceling shows and affecting economic development … So when you say you want to have a beautiful capital like we do, you can’t also undercut the ways that we have a beautiful capital. And so we have to support the arts.”
By Savannah Hulsey Pointer, Jan Jekielek and Jackson Richman
