Los Angeles Times: Last Tuesday, Philip Glass withdrew the delayed premiere in June of his latest symphony, No. 15. Originally meant to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2022, it is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, but the composer decided the values of the current Kennedy Center were “in direct conflict to the message of the symphony,” which is inspired by Lincoln’s 1838 Lyceum Address.
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Art has always been a way of expressing opinions, often theater more vocally than other art forms. It is scary to see political figures try to control the media as this seems to lean more towards dictatorship than democracy. When access to controversial media and particularly theater, which has often time through history been used to share controversial views, is restricted it can be a symptom or a foreshadowing or strife within a country. I have heard people say that art thrives in politically challenging times, but it can’t when it is being suppressed. Along with the production and showing of the Melania documentary the theater seems to be forced to lean more towards one side of the political spectrum than the other. This is a huge break from its long standing reputation of being impartial in the realm of politics. Art is for everyone, and it should stay that way.
A common misconception about art (specifically theatre) and politics is that they aren’t necessarily relational to one another. This notion is completely false, and no better demonstrated than in this article discussing the relationship between politics in the United States and art. While art has been able to often defy the political norm or expand beyond the boundaries, in our modern age no institution has demonstrated better how politics and theatre are inherently interconnected than one of the biggest theaters in the United States literally named after one of our most discernible presidents. With the outright political state of the Kennedy Center under the Trump Administration, I really loved how this article focused more on the overall discussion of the intersection between politics and art, espceially concerning the Kennedy Center. From denying certain productions to be held at the Kennedy Center to hosting arts funcing events, its history has always been political and moreover symbolic as a prized theatre in Washington DC.
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