Protecting the Mission of the Kennedy Center

May 1, 2026

Ed Malaga  -  AFM International Executive Board Member and President of Local 161-710 (Washington, DC)

For the uninitiated visiting our nation’s capital for the first time, the experience can truly be one of sensory overload. The combination of the sheer physical beauty of the city and the immediacy of its historical significance can be overwhelming.

I will certainly never forget my first visit to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after moving to the area. It was dark on that fall evening as we drove from Virginia across the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge and the city came into view. The illuminated Kennedy Center appeared across the Potomac River on the left with the view of the Lincoln Memorial to the right side of the river. The Washington Monument was in the background.

The impact of that moment was only magnified by the anticipation of what I would be experiencing inside the building—home to the National Symphony Orchestra, the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, and until very recently, the Washington National Opera. The Kennedy Center has been a destination for arts organizations around the world since its opening in 1971 and has played a vital role as a cultural leader and nonpartisan arts institution. It has excelled in its mission to “present classical and contemporary music, opera, drama, dance, and other performing arts from the United States and other countries.”

I imagine that this impression has been shared countless times over the course of the Kennedy Center’s illustrious history as a living memorial to the performing arts in honor of a slain president. It is therefore even more troubling to witness the events that have recently transpired and their impact on this institution and all those who work there in fulfillment of its directive. Partisan politics now place the Kennedy Center’s mission, authorized by an act of Congress, in jeopardy for the first time in its existence.

Since the unprecedented takeover of the center, the reaction from both artists and audiences has had a devastating impact. Many artists have chosen to withdraw from their commitments at the center in protest of its management. This has effectively resulted in an exercise in self-censorship, as opposed to the intended goal.

Our national cultural center represents one of the world’s premier platforms for artistic expression. In a time of such historical importance like we are currently experiencing, why would artists choose silence over the opportunity to engage with their audiences and share their message directly?

President Kennedy said, “If sometimes our great artists have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate any true artist, makes him aware that our nation falls short of its highest potential.”

Of no less significance is the impact to all of those working under union contracts at the Kennedy Center. Not only have boycotts proven extremely disruptive to their livelihoods, but the boycotts are increasingly becoming an existential threat. Audiences have also chosen to vote with their feet.

The result has been not to punish the center’s leadership, which remains in place, but rather to jeopardize the lives of the very people who have dedicated their careers to bringing these arts to life in fulfillment of the Kennedy Center’s mission. By way of analogy, this could be compared to a sports team whose home stadium naming rights were bought by an unscrupulous corporation. Would the team’s fan base withdraw their support of their team as a form of protest by not attending games?

That brings us to the current situation and the announcement, with six months’ notice, that the Kennedy Center will be closing for a period of two years for “renovations.” Several lawsuits have been filed in objection and are being monitored closely.

However, the potential success of this litigation won’t do anything to change the dynamic which currently exists. Only artists and audiences can do that. As President Kennedy’s words on the marble facade of the center remind us, “I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.”

I look forward to a time when we will once again gather to celebrate the arts at this amazing venue, when artists and audiences will once again feel welcome at our national cultural center to experience the transformative power of the performing arts, and when this living memorial is restored to its designated purpose.

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