by Pa Rock
Culture Vulture
The idea which later evolved into the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was first conceived in 1955 under the Eisenhower administration as a new auditorium in which to provide public performances of a cultural nature to residents of, and visitors to, our nation's capital. It was originally to be known as the National Cultural Center, even before construction had begun. President and Mrs. Kennedy were early supporters and fundraisers for the project. After Kennedy's assassination, President Lyndon Johnson gave the soon-to-be-constructed super-auditorium it's current name. Construction began in 1965, and the Center opened with a production of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" in 1971.
The Kennedy Center, which sits on the east bank of the Potomac River near the Lincoln Memorial, is a 100-foot high complex that includes a concert hall, opera house, theatre, lecture hall, and meeting rooms. There is a walkway along the roof of the building which includes magnificent views of the river and many of the monuments and tourist destinations of Washington, DC. It's a great place to get an overall feel for our nation's capital.
I had the good fortune to spend the better part of a day and evening at the Kennedy Center in 2003. My friend Millie and I traveled to Washington, DC, for the express purpose of watching the performance of a short play that my son Tim, who at that time was a graduate student at the University of Kansas, had written. Tim's play was titled "The Attack of the Asians," and it had originally been entered in a writing contest for plays which were ten minutes or less in length.
The contest was sponsored by the Kennedy Center, and Tim's play won for his region. There were several other finalists from around the country, and Millie and I were in the D.C. to enjoy the finals. Tim's play did not win the final competition, but I know that all of the young college playwrights involved gained writing and productions skills from the experience, and all can forever boast that they had a work produced at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts!
(Tim has gone on to write two successful feature films, "The Brass Teapot" and "Lost Child," and he is currently involved in a musical stage adaptation of "The Brass Teapot," and has written another movie which appears to be heading toward production. Yes, papa is proud!)
But, all of that family chatter aside, The Kennedy Center, which is funded through private donations, ticket sales, and the federal government, and whose board members are appointed by the President of the United States, suffered major harm this week when Donald Trump appointed fourteen new members to Board of Trustees and then had himself appointed CEO of the Organization. The move, which had immediate adverse effects including loss of talent and loss of patronage, appears to be part of Trump's on-going war on the status quo and what he regards as a culture of "wokeness."
(Did you see where Jane Fonda, at the Screen Actor's Guild Awards this week, defined "woke" as "just giving a damn about other people." I'm with Jane!)
Trump's fourteen appointments to the board consist primarily of political allies, billionaires, and other rightwing extremists or their spouses.
Membership in the Kennedy Center's Board of Trustees now stands at thirty-one and includes such partisan notables as White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and her chief deputy, Dan Scavino. Usha Vance (JD's wife), US Attorney General Pam Bondi, Allison Lutnick, the wife of the current Secretary of Commerce, country music singer and prominent Republican Lee Greenwood, former Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Transportation (and Mitch McConnell's wife), Elaine Chou, and, of course, Donald John Trump, the First.
The first losses to the Kennedy Center in this new dystopia include resignations from the board treasurer, Shonda Rhimes, National Symphony Orchestra artistic adviser Ben Folds, and artistic adviser at-large Renee Fleming.
Other losses include the election of Donald Trump as the Kennedy Center Board chair, replacing David M. Rubenstein, and the termination of Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter who had already announced her intention to resign from that position at the end of 2025.
Insiders at the Kennedy Center told the Washington Post that ticket sales dropped by one-half during the week following the Trump takeover of the cultural center. Perhaps the man once known for having his butt spanked by a porn actress with a rolled-up magazine has yet to impart his full vision of culture to the American public.
Maybe when Linda McMahon gets the Department of Education shut down, she and Hulk Hogan could liven the Center up with some good ol' "professional" wrestling!
And who wouldn't pay for big bucks for an evening of watching porn stars spank politicians!
Carpe diem, Philistines!
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