Trump to make himself chair of the Kennedy Center, says he’ll dismiss board members

President Donald Trump left the arts world reeling with his announcement on Truth Social that he intends to appoint himself chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and immediately terminate multiple members of the board of trustees, “who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”

Shortly after the news broke Friday, the Kennedy Center’s website became difficult to reach due to “high traffic,” according to a note on its landing page.

“The Kennedy Center is aware of the post made recently by [the President] on social media,” the arts institution said in a statement over email. “We have received no official communications from the White House regarding changes to our board of trustees. We are aware that some members of our board have received termination notices from the administration.”

In its statement, the Kennedy Center noted that since it’s inception, the institution has “had a collaborative relationship with every presidential administration” and “a bi-partisan board of trustees that has supported the arts in a non-partisan fashion.”

“[T]he chair of the board of trustees is appointed by the Center’s board members,” the statement said. “There is nothing in the Center’s statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; however, this would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Center’s board.”

Trump has long had a contentious relationship with the storied arts institution, considered the nation’s most prestigious avatar of culture. In 2017, he and First Lady Melania Trump skipped that year’s Kennedy Center Honors after being criticized by honorees, marking only the fourth time in the organization’s history that a president was not in attendance.

The Kennedy Center is a federal facility authorized by an act of Congress in 1958 and maintains a public-private partnership with the federal government, which funds the building’s maintenance and operations. Its arts programs, performances and educational initiatives are paid for through ticket sales and gifts from donors.

The current chairman for more than a decade is businessman and philanthropist David M. Rubenstein. Rubenstein had planned to retire last month, but after Trump’s election, it was announced that he would stay in his role for an additional year. Board members are appointed by the president. At present , there are 36 board members, some of whom were appointed by Trump during his first term, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and his former transportation secretary, Elaine Chao.

President Biden filled a number of board vacancies during his last weeks in office, naming, among others, political strategist Mike Donilon. Honorary chairs of the Kennedy Center include first ladies Melania Trump, Jill Biden, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Laura Bush.

“Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation.”

This is not the first time in the early days of his second administration that the president has taken a muscular stance against existing cultural organizations. One of his first acts as president was to dissolve the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, which was established by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 to advise on issues of cultural and artistic import.

Trump did not say which board members he planned to oust in his Truth Social post.