This article was originally published in American Theatre Magazine on October 15, 2025.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has always been a part of my life. Growing up just outside of Washington, D.C., in the 2000s, I always saw its large marble building as integral to my city’s landscape, just as much as the Washington Monument. I came of age in the building, seeing Theater for Young Audiences as a kid, national tours of Broadway musicals as a middle schooler, and music concerts as a high schooler.
The creation of such a multifaceted arts organization was only possible thanks to the federal government. In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Cultural Center Act, which allocated D.C. land for a culture center, and mandated that it would be a privately funded organization. President John F. Kennedy helped fundraise for the building before his assassination, and his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, helped dedicate the center as a “living memorial” to Kennedy. Johnson remarked at a groundbreaking ceremony that “artistic activity can enrich the life of our people, which really is the central object of Government.” The Kennedy Center officially opened in 1971.
More than 50 years later, from August 2022 through March 2025, the Kennedy Center was my employer. My official title was junior copywriter/coordinator, advertising communications, in which role I collaborated with marketers and programmers to promote the Center’s wide range of performances. I edited dance season brochures, interviewed artists for a patron magazine, wrote radio ads for comedians, and sent emails for free Millennium Stage shows. I was especially proud to promote the Social Impact team, which provided outreach programs to local and national communities. The team often used the Center’s recently built REACH space to provide classes, staged readings, discussions, festivals, and more.
My job dramatically changed early this year. On Friday, Feb. 7, The Atlantic reported the Trump administration’s plans to fire Kennedy Center board members (who historically were appointed by the president for six-year terms). Trump stated these intentions himself with a Truth Social post on the same day, which also said, “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”
I spent the rest of that weekend waiting for the dominos to fall, and soon they did. (To read the rest of this article in American Theatre magazine, click here.)
