The Kennedy Center has laid off its Social Impact team, per reporting by NPR and a Facebook post from group Artistic Director Marc Bamuthi Joseph, a spoken word artist whose previous credits include an appearance in Freestyle Love Supreme on Broadway. The seven-member team was part of the Washington, D.C. venue's effort to diversify its audiences. The team was reportedly told about the layoffs March 25.
Though specific reasoning was not given for the elimination of this team, the move comes as President Trump has been paying an unusual amount of attention to the arts institution, reshaping it to his tastes and beliefs. Trump removed much of the venue's board of directors last month and replaced them with loyalists who then made him chair of the organization. Several planned productions and events were cancelled in the wake of the switch over, seemingly over new Trump-originating content guidelines banning drag performances, free gender expression, and anything relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The venue's new leadership has not been forthcoming with the exact guidelines governing these sudden changes, though Trump has written in social media posts that he wanted to rid the venue of "woke" programming, without defining that word or specifying what previous Kennedy Center presentations he found objectionable. The move has been wholly unprecedented in the entire history of the previously bipartisan venue.
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"Eras end…doors close…windows open…we fly through…," wrote Joseph sharing news of his own lay-off on Facebook. "There is still work to be done, and I’m determined to keep going!"
In an audio recording of a meeting obtained by The New York Times, Trump said he wanted to program "non-woke" musicals like Phantom of the Opera and Cats. A Trump-appointed board member also said in the same meeting that the organization would mount shows not affiliated with professional actor and stage manager union Actors' Equity, claiming the change "opens [The Kennedy Center] up for a whole bunch of more options as well as a lot more money." It remains to be seen how or if the Kennedy Center will be able to bring in Broadway tours without the use of Equity actors, which is an industry standard. Equity has previously told Playbill that "The union intends to fully enforce our contracts with The Kennedy Center. Equity reminds its members that if they experience any difficulty with their contracts at the Kennedy Center, they should reach out to their business reps immediately.”
A number of artists have cancelled their planned Kennedy Center performances in response to the new leadership and politicization of the venue's programming, including a 2026 run of the Hamilton national tour and concerts from Melissa Errico, Issa Rae, and Rhiannon Giddens. The Kennedy Center has cancelled tis tour of children's musical Finn, which then inspired a recent concert performance featuring Broadway stars—with a portion of proceeds going to The Trevor Project, the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ young people.
