Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) sent a letter to the Kennedy Center’s Chairman David Rubenstein and President Deborah Rutter on Jan. 24. The letter states that the performing arts center receives annual congressional appropriations, including $44 million for fiscal year 2024, to ensure its function as a public building.
The lawmakers pointed out that “there is a responsibility to be accountable to the U.S. taxpayers for what goes on in their building.”
The lawmakers noted that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not tolerate free artistic expression and sees art as a “political instrument” with the objective of “disseminating propaganda abroad and mobilizing the masses domestically.”
“Art is propaganda in [CCP leader] Xi Jinping’s China and can only serve the CCP,” the lawmakers wrote.
The National Ballet of China is scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2.
The Chinese ballet company has three leaders who are CCP members, and its director, Feng Ying, has held posts in two CCP organs, the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, according to the letter.
The company has an embedded Party committee office responsible for “ensuring compliance with Party directive,” the lawmakers wrote. “Hence, the National Ballet of China clearly is part of the CCP’s political machinery.”
“While presenting a friendly façade to the American public via the ballet, this regime is actively persecuting writers, artists and other creative talents who dissent from the Party line not only within the PRC, but also abroad, including in the United States,” the lawmakers wrote, using the acronym of communist China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
Concerns
The letter mentioned Chinese artists targeted by the Chinese regime, such as songwriter Liu Sifang and lyricist Xu Lin, who were criminally detained in 2017 for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” due to their songs promoting human rights and democracy.“Subsidizing CCP propaganda and implicitly endorsing Xi Jinping’s war on artists and intellectuals … is not responsible stewardship in our opinion,” the lawmakers wrote.
They emphasized the Kennedy Center’s heritage, pointing out that it should not be used to exhibit performances based on communist ideology.
“We note that the Kennedy Center is a public building and a memorial to President John F. Kennedy, who believed that dancers, poets, musicians, writers and painters are critical participants in a vibrant American democracy,” the letter reads.
The lawmakers request Rubenstein and Rutter to answer several questions before Jan. 28, including whether any federal money is being used to stage the Chinese ballet company’s performances.
Additionally, the lawmakers asked about the funders behind the Chinese ballet company’s performances, particularly whether they have included entities with ties to China’s United Front Work Department.
Another question from the lawmakers is whether the Kennedy Center will include any contributions from China or entities associated with the CCP in its budget justification to Congress for fiscal year 2026.
“Will the Kennedy Center’s leadership meet with Chinese dissidents living in the U.S., whose loved ones are arbitrarily detained and even tortured in PRC prisons for exercising rights we take for granted in America?” the letter reads.
The Chinese regime also uses agents to promote its overseas cultural influence.
The Epoch Times has reached out to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for comment and did not receive a response by publication time.
