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Thursday, February 19, 2026
Kennedy Center Unions Challenge Trump's 'Revitalization' Plans
Parade: The labor unions representing staff at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., have broken their silence regarding Donald Trump’s recent announcement concerning the facility’s future.
6 comments:
Ryan Hoffman
said...
2: I saw this coming from miles away. You’re cutting everyone's paycheck by not only removing any reason to give the hourly people any hours to clock in for, resulting in potential benefits being lost, but also cutting the theatre's main funding source, donors and event fees. The donors no longer have any reason to donate to the theatre because they are doing anything for the next two years, and Trump cancelled all the scheduled events that were supposed to happen after May, so sure you’ll remain getting paid by events (that don’t cancel on the Kennedy center first) until May, but after that it’s a major funding loss. This will most likely cause a little chaos in the DC theatre job market, as not only are we now losing jobs due to this, but also all the currently employed people by the Kennedy center are now scrambling to find a new job, which sucks for everyone, including us at CMU.
I am so glad that the union is speaking up against this. The fact that so many people would be out of jobs is definitely not something that Donald Trump thought about. I had not thought about the fact that it might be because of the amount of artists that are pulling out of performing there because of the name change, but that makes a lot of sense as he is a very sensitive person and that probably hurt his feelings a lot so he is lashing out and saying “if I can’t have it, no one can.” Very childish as are most of his moves. I know that it still needs to go before the board before anything can happen, but given that he chose the board, it will most likely pass. I am proud of the union for speaking up and I hope that they get their demands met.
Yeah, no this idiot is out for spectacle and more things to inflate his ego and it really shows. The renaming is the icing on the cake, complete unnecessary and literally just to inflate his ego. He sounds like a child, saying that it will be bigger and better than anything anyone has seen before as if trying to one up someone on the playground with a bigger toy. And then he’ll suddenly lose interest on that toy and never use it again. If the Kennedy Center closes due to this, he will likely never open it again. It’s horrible that, at the end of the day, this big baby’s actions impact so many people so negatively. I’m glad to see the union fighting back against this and I have immense respect for the people who have canceled their events or quit as a result of Trump’s takeover of the Center. It is just extremely saddening and upsetting to see overall, but I'm glad people aren't lying down and just taking it.
In this series of keeping up with The Kennedy Center news, I am incredibly proud and not at all surprised by The Kennedy Center Unions’ fighting back against Donald Trump’s plans to close the venue for “renovations”. I commented on the “renovations” themselves when Trump first introduced the initiative, and how they are a testament to Trump’s narcissistic nature, utter mishandeling of priorities and complete disregard for the arts with the new order to renovate the already grand facility, so to see organized pushback from The Kennedy Center Unions is refreshing and hopeful. Their cause is absolutely justified in demanding “continued fair pay, enforceable worker protections, and accountability for our members in the event they cannot work due to an operational pause” due to the implications of the closure and suddenness without notification for the initiative. My hope is that the Unions will see enough outside support in their mission from audiences and have at least some power in combatting this, but it’s a good step forward to say the least.
Following this story has been more and more sad each time. I predict this will be exactly like his ballroom- demolished, nonexistent. I sincerely just hope the people losing their jobs over this will be compensated. This is yet again another example of our president attacking any kinds of arts and education he does not like, or do not align with his beliefs. (Or educate and empower an audience enough to think critically about the world.) All of this community building is terrible for a fascist regime, and I can already see it coming; the collapse of the building itself, the lack of renovation that will happen literally ever, and a massive hit to the local community of artists. If this isn’t a sign to start fighting back I don’t know what is. This all has me thinking about a theater I read up on recently, Uprising Theatre in Chicago. The kinds of productions that they invest themselves in are what make elitists fear artists, and we need a lot more of it throughout this country.
6 comments:
2: I saw this coming from miles away. You’re cutting everyone's paycheck by not only removing any reason to give the hourly people any hours to clock in for, resulting in potential benefits being lost, but also cutting the theatre's main funding source, donors and event fees. The donors no longer have any reason to donate to the theatre because they are doing anything for the next two years, and Trump cancelled all the scheduled events that were supposed to happen after May, so sure you’ll remain getting paid by events (that don’t cancel on the Kennedy center first) until May, but after that it’s a major funding loss. This will most likely cause a little chaos in the DC theatre job market, as not only are we now losing jobs due to this, but also all the currently employed people by the Kennedy center are now scrambling to find a new job, which sucks for everyone, including us at CMU.
I am so glad that the union is speaking up against this. The fact that so many people would be out of jobs is definitely not something that Donald Trump thought about. I had not thought about the fact that it might be because of the amount of artists that are pulling out of performing there because of the name change, but that makes a lot of sense as he is a very sensitive person and that probably hurt his feelings a lot so he is lashing out and saying “if I can’t have it, no one can.” Very childish as are most of his moves. I know that it still needs to go before the board before anything can happen, but given that he chose the board, it will most likely pass. I am proud of the union for speaking up and I hope that they get their demands met.
Emma L
Yeah, no this idiot is out for spectacle and more things to inflate his ego and it really shows. The renaming is the icing on the cake, complete unnecessary and literally just to inflate his ego. He sounds like a child, saying that it will be bigger and better than anything anyone has seen before as if trying to one up someone on the playground with a bigger toy. And then he’ll suddenly lose interest on that toy and never use it again. If the Kennedy Center closes due to this, he will likely never open it again. It’s horrible that, at the end of the day, this big baby’s actions impact so many people so negatively. I’m glad to see the union fighting back against this and I have immense respect for the people who have canceled their events or quit as a result of Trump’s takeover of the Center. It is just extremely saddening and upsetting to see overall, but I'm glad people aren't lying down and just taking it.
In this series of keeping up with The Kennedy Center news, I am incredibly proud and not at all surprised by The Kennedy Center Unions’ fighting back against Donald Trump’s plans to close the venue for “renovations”. I commented on the “renovations” themselves when Trump first introduced the initiative, and how they are a testament to Trump’s narcissistic nature, utter mishandeling of priorities and complete disregard for the arts with the new order to renovate the already grand facility, so to see organized pushback from The Kennedy Center Unions is refreshing and hopeful. Their cause is absolutely justified in demanding “continued fair pay, enforceable worker protections, and accountability for our members in the event they cannot work due to an operational pause” due to the implications of the closure and suddenness without notification for the initiative. My hope is that the Unions will see enough outside support in their mission from audiences and have at least some power in combatting this, but it’s a good step forward to say the least.
Following this story has been more and more sad each time. I predict this will be exactly like his ballroom- demolished, nonexistent. I sincerely just hope the people losing their jobs over this will be compensated. This is yet again another example of our president attacking any kinds of arts and education he does not like, or do not align with his beliefs. (Or educate and empower an audience enough to think critically about the world.) All of this community building is terrible for a fascist regime, and I can already see it coming; the collapse of the building itself, the lack of renovation that will happen literally ever, and a massive hit to the local community of artists. If this isn’t a sign to start fighting back I don’t know what is. This all has me thinking about a theater I read up on recently, Uprising Theatre in Chicago. The kinds of productions that they invest themselves in are what make elitists fear artists, and we need a lot more of it throughout this country.
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