Kennedy Center takeover and why it matters

The arts generally flew under the radar under the first Trump Administration, getting by with the strategies that arts advocates had been using for years: focus on Congress for support by highlighting the spending happening in their districts and “speak their language” by emphasizing economic development and warm and fuzzy community connection strategies and arts education. Weave the arts into popular and untouchable areas of the federal government like the military to offer programming that is highly valued and impactful. Distract members of Congress from cutting budgets by pointing out that arts only make up such a small part of the federal budget that cutting the arts doesn’t help anything, but it would hurt artist-entrepreneurs, small businesses, and tiny nonprofits that punch above their weight from an economic and tourism standpoint.

Well, it doesn’t look like that’s going to work this time around. On Friday, Feb. 7, President Trump declared that he was going to appoint himself Chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and remove whichever of the Center’s board members that he wanted to. His authority to do that was unclear, since statute that describes how board members are appointed by the President is silent on removing them, and no internal bylaws or policy documents that describe the process for removing a board member have made their way to the media or public yet.

I’ve written two posts on LinkedIn about the governance issues related to President Trump’s removal of board members. I posted the first on Feb. 10, when what would happen was still up in the air, and a second today after President Trump had appointed the new members, the Board voted President Trump in as Chairman, then voted to fire Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter and install Richard Grenell as interim President.

I don’t want to just let this go as another example of President Trump breaking norms, but legitimately using his authority. First, it’s not clear that rules weren’t broken. Second, it’s a matter of transparency to know how major governance decisions were made under political pressure at an organization that exists as a public-private partnership and the most visible symbol of the arts in our country. Third, it’s a major trespassing of the federal government into civil society. The funding for the Kennedy Center’s programming comes from donations and earned income. If an elected official can take over an organization with that funding base, we’re in new territory as a country as far as regular people being able to direct their wishes for what nonprofit organizations do through donating and spending their own money. Finally, the arts are an important place where we hold the identity of ourselves as a nation, so President Trump’s explicit statements about how he wants to change the programming has implications about controlling free expression of Americans.

The Kennedy Center showcases the excellence and diversity of American artists and cultures around the world and it should be allowed to continue that work.

Photo is from the Kennedy Center website.