Once a crown jewel of Washington’s arts scene, the Kennedy Center is now in crisis. Ticket sales are down, and performers are pulling out, all months after Donald Trump took over.
Washington Post data shows that ticket sales for the Opera House, Concert Hall, and Eisenhower Theater fell to 57% between September 3 and October 19, 2025. That is far below 93% in fall 2024 and 80% in fall 2023.
Part of the problem is that major performers have canceled. Grammy-winning soprano Renée Fleming pulled out last week due to a “scheduling conflict.” The Martha Graham Dance Company also canceled its April show without explanation. The Washington National Opera ended its five-decade residency at the center earlier this month.
Trump, however, insists the center is on the path to improvement. On Truth Social, he wrote: “People don’t realize that The Trump Kennedy Center suffered massive deficits for many years and, like everything else, I merely came in to save it and, if possible, make it far better than ever before!”
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But staffers dispute the claim of a massive deficit. One staffer told the Washington Post: “The statement that we have an operating deficit of over $100 million is inaccurate. Our audited FY23 financial statements, which are publicly available via ProPublica, show that this figure excludes essential nonprofit revenue streams such as contributions, grants, and endowment support.”
The staffer added: “Nonprofit organizations are designed to rely on philanthropic and institutional support in order to fulfill their mission. Using an ‘earned revenue minus expenses’ framework oversimplifies the picture and applies a for-profit lens that doesn’t reflect how nonprofit business models work.”
Trump’s changes and the renaming of the center to the Trump-Kennedy Center in December 2025 have unsettled staff and patrons. The move came without congressional approval, drawing complaints from board members and artists.
The drop in ticket sales and artists leaving is also seen on TV. The Kennedy Center Honors, which usually gets a big audience, had fewer viewers last year. Only a few million watched, about 25% less the previous year, according to Nielsen.
Despite the backlash, Trump continues to defend his approach. He claims he is rescuing the center from years of mismanagement and wants to make it “far better than ever before.”
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
