Rhiannon Giddens is the latest artist to cancel Kennedy Center gig
Folk musician Rhiannon Giddens announced on social media that she has moved her May 11 concert – originally scheduled for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts – to a different venue in Washington, D.C.
Giddens said in the Threads post: “The Kennedy Center show was booked long before the current administration decided to take over this previously non-political institution, but I cannot in good conscience play at The Kennedy with the recent programming changes forced on the institution by this new board.”
The show will now take place on the same date at The Anthem, another venue in D.C., the musician said.
When asked for a response, a Kennedy Center spokesperson said that the Center itself has not changed any programming since President Trump put in motion a number of leadership changes earlier this month.
On Feb. 7, Trump announced on Truth Social that he would be terminating “multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman,” referring to longtime Kennedy Center chair and major donor David Rubenstein. Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter was also ousted.
The new board is made up solely of Trump appointees and Trump himself is now chair, an unprecedented move. Traditionally, the performing arts center, a “living memorial” to President John F. Kennedy, has had a bipartisan board.
Giddens, a MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer Prize winner, joins a growing list of artists who have canceled upcoming shows at the Kennedy Center in response to the leadership changes.
They include the Brooklyn-based, Puerto Rican band Balún, which was scheduled to perform Feb. 27. “Recent events made it clear that the space no longer aligns with our values. Our safety, integrity, and commitment to justice come first,” the band announced on Instagram over the weekend.
Mystery writer Louise Penny was scheduled to launch her new book The Black Wolf at the Kennedy Center, “but in the wake of Trump taking over, I have pulled out,” she wrote on Facebook. “It was, of course, going to be a career highlight. But there are things far more important than that.”
In her announcement, Giddens wrote that she doesn’t “judge anyone for choosing to go on with their shows; it’s a highly difficult situation for artists right now and everyone has to do what makes the most sense for them in the moment.”
Story edited by Jennifer Vanasco
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