An activist organization is livestreaming the removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center, which is expected to happen by Friday.
A federal judge ruled May 29 that the center had until June 12 to take Trump’s name off the nameplate and paused scheduled renovations that would’ve closed the center for two years. Mentions of his name have already been removed from the Kennedy Center website.
The group, called Hands Off the Arts, said it started the livestream to ensure Trump is held accountable to the ruling, and collectively describes itself as “a coalition of allies across communities fighting to keep art free from gov’t control.” The group also organizes weekly protests against the center’s closing and renaming.
“Hands Off the Arts stands firmly against Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center and any attempt to rename it,” a press release published ahead of last week’s protest said. “The executive branch has no role in censoring or curating art at the nation’s premier performing arts institution, nor does any president have the right to treat a presidential memorial like a personal brand.”
The Kennedy Center removed Trump’s name from its website on Monday. This follows the orders of an Obama-appointed judge who sided with the plaintiff, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH). The ruling said Congress must rename the building because the center was “named by statute” following the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Under Trump, multiple members of the Board of Trustees were immediately fired, and a new board of pro-administration members was appointed. In December, the new board unanimously voted to change the name to the Trump-Kennedy Center.
The group said it hopes to spark an artistic rebellion against perceived government overreach in the arts while protecting other cultural and artistic institutions from facing a similar fate as Trump’s attempted renaming of the Kennedy Center.
“Demoralization is a tactic of the government to coerce Americans into giving up. Arts – especially those of resistance – both counter their narrative and give our side courage,” the group’s organization page reads.
After the Trump takeover, the Washington National Opera ended its affiliation with the center, opting to instead perform at other venues. Others involved in the exodus include the executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra, alongside plenty of canceled performances, though the center’s schedule still includes upcoming musicals such as Moulin Rouge!, movie screenings, and fashion galas.
The grassroots coalition features a diverse array of protestors, many of whom are from the local Washington, D.C., performing arts community. Drag queen Tara Hoot is a regular fixture, as is Mallory Miller, a ballet instructor who told The Washington Examiner that she thought the ruling was a legal victory for the American people.
“The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has come to mean so many things to so many different people over its 50 years,” she said. “It’s disrespectful to the American people and to the stakeholders that have equity in that space to just rename an institution that they’ve built their lives around.”
Miller said she considers it an honor to be involved in civic engagement and political activism as the country nears its semiquincentennial.
“When we started organizing Hands off the Arts, we knew that it was meant to be a movement for the people, of the people,” she said. “It was a movement of people power because that is a crucial element to creating change in our country.”
KENNEDY CENTER REMOVES TRUMP’S NAMES FROM WEBSITE
Miller told the Washington Examiner the center needs maintenance, but she disputed Trump’s claims that past leadership had ignored earlier concerns.
“Maintenance of the Kennedy Center is a real thing, and things do need to take place, but there was a plan and place to do that,” she said. “To act as if it had been left in disarray by the leadership when Trump took over is a false narrative. That’s not true. The responsibility for the building maintenance is on a congressional appropriations committee.”