2025 has not been a very good PR year for the John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts. In February, Donald Trump fired numerous board members including its longtime president Deborah Rutter, and then appointed a fleet of new staffers to elect him as the institution’s new chairman. Perturbed by Trump’s goal to take down “woke culture,” Ben Folds, Renée Fleming, and Shonda Rhimes have all stepped down from their positions at the Kennedy Center, as artists including Rhiannon Giddons, Balún, Issa Rae, Low Cut Connie, Amanda Rheaume, and the producers of Hamilton have all canceled previously-scheduled performances there.
