One is that the center needs major upgrades. That is true. The other is that those upgrades require full closure of the entire campus for multiple years. That is suspect. - The Conversation
While a list of all those who've lost their positions is not yet available, multiple arts and culture reporters have confirmed the layoffs. - The Violin Channel
After last year’s Eaton Fire tore through town, incinerating community infrastructure and scattering residents across the region, the importance of such places has grown dramatically — not only as centers of gathering, but as sites of refuge, planning and healing. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Australia’s arts and cultural sector still has much to learn in terms of fiduciary duties and duty of care, risk and crisis management, communication and response, and navigating the difference between censorship and cultural safety. - ArtsHub
Since Prop. 28, the Art and Music in Schools Act, passed in late 2022, California has struggled to locate enough qualified arts teachers to place in every school in the state. The five-year, $11.3 million Arts Education Accelerator Fund will develop teacher training, credentialing and apprenticeship programs to help fill the gap. - EdSource (Oakland)
It certainly seems possible that the 1971 building, designed by architect Edward Durrell Stone, could be partially or completely erased. And with it, the center’s basic function, as a venue for the arts, along with its history, its distinguished legacy and its last remaining audience. - Washington Post (MSN)
Many people who should have been apprised of Trump’s plans before they were announced were not, including several Kennedy Center board members. And evidently little thought was given to either the National Symphony or touring Broadway shows booked for this summer. - The Washington Post (MSN)
“The Kennedy Center does not have a 2026-2027 season,” a source told CNN Inside Politics host Dana Bash. “There would not have been any programming to announce.” (video) - CNN
… he said that about the East Wing of the White House, too. And what Trump did say sounds worrisome: “I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure.” - AP
“Family members of the three men said they fear for their loved ones’ safety and are concerned the moves to solitary confinement are a form of retaliation for outspokenness about problems within the prison system.” - The Guardian (UK)
“Mehdi Mahmoudian, the Oscar-nominated co-screenwriter of Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident, was arrested in Tehran yesterday after signing a statement condemning the actions of Iran‘s supreme leader, Ali Khameni, during the recent violent crackdown on government protesters.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Trump wrote on Truth Social that “he would shut it down this summer, on July 4, arguing that a dramatic step was necessary to safeguard one of Washington’s most treasured cultural institutions.” - The New York Times
“I have determined that The Trump Kennedy Center, if temporarily closed for Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding, can be, without question, the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. - Washington Post
Portland’s mayor and city council “will decide eventually what to do with the city-owned performing arts center after a series of public meetings. But in the meantime, its fate is being analyzed by three city-appointed groups that are not meeting publicly.” - Oregon ArtsWatch
