Thursday, January 08, 2026
Béla Fleck cancels Kennedy Center appearance, says it's become 'charged and political'
NPR: The noted banjo player Béla Fleck has canceled three performances scheduled for next month with the National Symphony Orchestra, or NSO, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Fleck, who has won 18 Grammy Awards and often performs with symphonies around the country, is the latest artist to cancel engagements at the Kennedy Center amidst many administrative and curatorial changes at the Washington, D.C. arts complex.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I have written about the decision to add Trump's name to the Kennedy Center a few times before and I will continue to write about it and how stupid it is. To make a decision so rooted in vainness and pettiness and then get defensive when people start to call you out on it, is such a childish thing to do. Art should be a safe space for everyone (well, everyone who respects others and does not want certain people to die just because of the color of their skin) and when you make it an unsafe space, people will let you know because they will stop going there. Grenell’s response of “We want performers who aren’t political” makes me very upset because, again, art is political! Art always has been and always will be political. Art is a way for human expression and human expression in a world where they are trying to stop human expression is political and a protest that is needed.
Post a Comment