The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., has long stood as a beacon of American culture—a place where the arts could shine, relatively untouched by the political storms swirling outside its marble walls. But as the curtain rises on December 2025, the Kennedy Center finds itself at the center of a drama more contentious than any staged within its grand theaters. With President Donald Trump’s sweeping intervention earlier this year, the institution’s leadership, programming, and even its sacred traditions have undergone a transformation that has both captivated and divided the nation.
For decades, the Kennedy Center was known for its bipartisan spirit and its embrace of all Americans. Opened in 1971 on the Potomac’s banks, it welcomed everyone: “kids and adults, Republicans and Democrats, hip-hop heads and ballet dancers, people of all religions,” as The Athletic recounted. It was, as one longtime patron put it, “a cathedral”—a national treasure, according to Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller. Its signature events, like the Kennedy Center Honors gala, became as much a part of D.C.’s identity as the monuments and memorials lining the National Mall.
This year, however, the Kennedy Center’s role as a cultural sanctuary has been upended. In February 2025, President Trump abruptly ousted Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter and board chair David Rubenstein, along with 19 members of the previously bipartisan board of trustees. In their place, Trump installed Ric Grenell, a former diplomat with no prior experience in the arts, as interim executive director. Trump himself assumed the role of chairman, a first for any sitting U.S. president. The move was as sudden as it was sweeping, catching staff and patrons off guard. “We have received no official communications from the White House regarding changes to our board of trustees,” the Center said in a statement at the time, as reported by The Athletic.
The rationale behind the shake-up was no secret. Trump and Grenell openly declared their intent to purge the Center of what they called “woke” programming. Trump was blunt: “We don’t need woke at the Kennedy Center. Some of the shows were terrible, [it’s] a disgrace they were even put on.” Grenell echoed these sentiments, arguing, “the left has taken over the Kennedy Center in the past. They’ve made it extremely political. Of course they cry when we try to bring it to the middle.” Yet, as former staffers like Jane Raleigh pointed out, “we were frequently talking about making sure that the art we were presenting itself was never political in nature. Because we were meant to be a bipartisan and nonpartisan art center.”
The impact was immediate and profound. Staff members who had shaped the Center’s programming and outreach for years found themselves out of jobs. More than 100 employees—out of roughly 370 at the start of February—departed in the months following the leadership change. The Center’s “social impact” team, which had focused on outreach to underserved communities, was dismantled. Jane Raleigh, the dance director fired by Grenell in August, confirmed to The Athletic that ticket sales had dropped, with subscription return rates “down about 50% over where they should have been.”
The artistic community responded with outrage. Some performers, like Herbie Hancock and Bonnie Raitt, declined to attend the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, citing prior commitments or discomfort with the new direction. Others, like Issa Rae and Jeffrey Seller, took more public stands. Seller announced that Hamilton would cancel its scheduled engagements, stating, “our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center.” He added, “In recent weeks we have sadly seen decades of Kennedy Center neutrality be destroyed. The recent purge by the Trump Administration of both professional staff and performing arts events at or originally produced by the Kennedy Center flies in the face of everything this national cultural center represents.”
Amid this upheaval, the Kennedy Center’s signature events have also changed. The 48th Kennedy Center Honors gala, set for December 7, 2025, will feature honorees Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, the rock band KISS, Gloria Gaynor, and English actor and singer Michael Crawford. The ceremony, to be broadcast on CBS and Paramount+ on December 23, will break with tradition in several ways. President Trump, claiming to have been “about 98%” involved in the selection process, personally announced the honorees at a press conference—another first. He will also host the gala, marking the first time a sitting U.S. president has taken on that role. “I used to host The Apprentice finales and we did rather well with that. So I think we’re going to do very well because we have some great honorees,” Trump remarked, according to NPR.
Even the iconic rainbow medallion, awarded to honorees since 1978, has been reimagined. The new design, crafted by Tiffany & Co., features a blue ribbon with rainbow stripes on the medallion itself, replacing the traditional multicolored satin ribbon. For some, it’s a minor detail; for others, it’s a symbol of the broader changes afoot.
The Kennedy Center’s new direction has also opened its doors to a different kind of event. On December 6, 2025, the Center will host the FIFA Men’s 2026 World Cup draw, a glitzy global spectacle previously considered for Las Vegas. The Trump administration recommended the Kennedy Center as the venue, and FIFA agreed to a deal granting exclusive use of the Concert Hall and other spaces for a $0 rental fee, in exchange for a $2.4 million donation and $5 million in sponsorship opportunities. “The Kennedy Center will give it a phenomenal kickoff. And we’ll be involved,” Trump declared in August.
The presence of FIFA and the World Cup draw has displaced traditional programming, prompting protests from longtime patrons who lament the Center’s shift from cultural sanctuary to political battleground. “It’s a cultural center, not a business center,” said Susanne Joyner, a regular at National Symphony Orchestra concerts, to The Athletic. The event will bring thousands of soccer executives, dignitaries, and journalists to the Center and will be broadcast to millions worldwide. FIFA president Gianni Infantino, described as a “close friend” of Trump, will preside over the draw and present a new “FIFA Peace Prize.”
Meanwhile, the Kennedy Center has hosted events that reflect its new leadership’s priorities, including a vigil for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the American Conservative Union Foundation’s “Christian Persecution Summit,” and a U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum following a White House visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Grenell has ordered the National Symphony Orchestra to play the U.S. national anthem before every performance, and Trump secured $257 million in federal funding for renovations, boasting, “Tremendous work is being done, and money being spent, on bringing it back to the absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment.”
For many, these changes mark a turning point in the Kennedy Center’s history. As one volunteer, speaking anonymously to The Athletic, put it: “It’s a very bizarre time. I’ve never seen it like this.” The Kennedy Center, once a symbol of unity and cultural excellence, now finds itself at the heart of America’s ongoing debate over art, politics, and the very meaning of public space.
As the world tunes in for the World Cup draw and the Honors gala, the Kennedy Center stands transformed—its future uncertain, its legacy fiercely contested, and its place in American life more visible, and more debated, than ever before.
