More than 2,500 artists, Kennedy Center workers, union members, and community members joined hands around the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Friday evening, September 18, forming a human chain encircling the building and calling on President Donald Trump to step down as chairman and from the Center’s Board of Trustees. “Hands Around the Kennedy Center” was organized by Hands Off the Arts and emceed by local drag artist Tara Hoot.
The action followed the Board’s September 15 vote to close the Center, a decision the Board attributed to preparations for renovations, but Trump was photographed this week reviewing a poster depicting the building’s demolition.
“The show of support from the community was astounding,” said Chris Raleigh, co-founder of Hands Off the Arts. “We didn’t just form a chain; we built a wall of people around the Center to protect it from becoming one more beloved American institution demolished by Donald Trump. This Center belongs to the American people. If he wants to get to it, he has to go through us first.”
Mallory Miller, co-founder of Hands Off the Arts, said the coalition’s pressure kept the building open longer than the administration intended. “Trump decided he was going to close the Kennedy Center in the nation’s 250th anniversary year, and we said not so fast. It stayed open until this week — and it will be open again, because we are going to make sure of it.”
Actress Lynda Carter, who starred as Wonder Woman, led the crowd in chants as the chain closed around the building. “No one can silence us!” Carter told the gathering.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Rep. Jonathan L. Jackson (D-Ill.) attended and spoke briefly, voicing support for the crowd’s demands.
At-Large D.C. Councilmember Robert White, the Democratic nominee for the District’s non-voting congressional delegate seat, told the crowd, “In two years, I want to see that orange man gone and the Kennedy Center still here. We will keep fighting and do whatever it takes to defend this monument and protect the arts. And when I get to Congress, I’m going to say the same damn thing.”
Sam Epps, president of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO, spoke to the stakes for the Center’s workforce. “I represent 150,000 workers in D.C. and the suburban counties of Maryland, and we stand here with all of you — but particularly with the workers, because we know that when the community and labor stand together, we will win!” Epps said.
Trump appointed himself chairman of the Center in February 2025. The Board, now composed largely of his appointees, has moved to rename the institution after him — an effort that has drawn legal challenges and public opposition.
Hands Off the Arts is calling for Trump and the current Board to be removed and the Center placed under a receivership, arguing the Board has abandoned its fiduciary duty to a memorial to a slain president.
More information is available at handsoffthearts.org.
