Washington National Opera leaves Kennedy Center after 50 years amid Trump takeover
The Washington National Opera announced on January 9th that it will be leaving the John F Kennedy Center, its home since 1971, amid the slew of exiting artists reacting to the recent name change brought about by President Donald Trump‘s takeover of the venue.
The opera confirmed the move in a statement, which read: “Today, the Washington National Opera announced its decision to seek an amicable early termination of its affiliation agreement with the Kennedy Center and resume operations as a fully independent nonprofit entity.”
The company revealed that the move was agreed upon by its board of trustees, which voted to move all its upcoming performances out of the Kennedy Center’s 2,364-seat Opera House.
Following this announcement, a spokesperson for the Trump Kennedy Center claimed that the decision was made by the site, and not the opera, telling The Independent: “After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to part ways with the WNO due to a financially challenging relationship.”
This is a familiar trend; several artists have cancelled upcoming performances in response to Trump’s move to rename the institution after hosting the Kennedy Center Honours this year.
Out of the blue, lettering appeared on the side of the site, which read: “THE DONALD J. TRUMP AND THE JOHN F. KENNEDY MEMORIAL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS.”
At the time of the name change, the President of the USA wrote on Truth Social: “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA – ONLY THE BEST.”
On January 6th, Béla Fleck cancelled his upcoming performance at the Kennedy Center, explaining online that “Performing there has become charged and political, at an institution where the focus should be on the music.”
In response, Kennedy Center interim president Richard Grenell condemned the Grammy-winner, writing, “You just made it political and caved to the woke mob who wants you to perform for only Lefties. This mob pressuring you will never be happy until you only play for Democrats.”
Wicked composer Steven Schwartz, who was due to host the Washington National Opera Gala at the Kennedy Center on May 16th, has also confirmed he will no longer be participating in the event after it was renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center.
Before the publicised name change, notable entertainers such as Issa Rae, Peter Wolf, and Lin-Manuel Miranda had cancelled performances in reaction to Trump’s newly-appointed board.
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