Grenell Outlines Trump’s Plan to Revamp the Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center Opera House in a file photo. John Yu/Epoch Times

OXON HILL, Md.—Richard Grenell, interim executive director of the Kennedy Center in Washington, outlined President Donald Trump’s vision for the performing arts venue.

The Washington mainstay “should be the premier center in the nation’s capital for the arts,” Grenell, who is also Trump’s envoy for special missions, told The Epoch Times’ Jan Jekielek on Feb. 20 during the Conservative Political Action Committee convention.

In early February, Trump removed the institution’s leadership and appointed new members to the board of trustees, who elected him chairman. 

The present-day Kennedy Center was founded as the National Cultural Center in 1958 by former President Dwight Eisenhower. President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy were substantial supporters of the project, raising millions for its construction starting in November 1962. Two months after JFK’s assassination in November 1963, President Lyndon Johnson signed an act of Congress into law, designating it as a living memorial to the late president.

The arts center is supported by government funds and private donations.

In recent times, Trump has been vocal in his criticism of the center’s actions, which he said were promoting “anti-American propaganda.” The president promised to push the center toward his “vision for a Golden Age of American Arts and Culture.”

Some performers, including a national network of drag artists and allies, have voiced their frustration with Trump’s leadership, and some consultants, including musician Ben Folds and singer Renée Fleming, have resigned. Also, actor Issa Rae and author Louise Penny have canceled appearances.

Mayor Muriel Bowser weighed in on the president’s changes while speaking at the National Press Club on Feb. 21, saying, “Canceling shows is bad for the arts community.”

Bowser, who has clashed with Trump in the past, said Trump’s new plans for the center are “bad for business.”

“It’s a local institution, but it’s America’s arts center, so people come from around the country to see shows, and so I don’t know how we benefit at all from canceling shows and affecting economic development … So when you say you want to have a beautiful capital like we do, you can’t also undercut the ways that we have a beautiful capital. And so we have to support the arts.”

The board also terminated the contract of Center President Deborah Rutter, appointing Grenell as the interim director.

In his interview, Grenell said the Kennedy Center has “a lot of problems,” citing Rutter’s leadership and financial management as issues.

“The woman who was the president before me was getting paid $1.3 million a year; she had zero cash on hand and zero in reserves,” Grenell said.

He went on to outline some of the issues, including that roughly 300 center employees were being paid out of debt reserves, which is particularly problematic because the center is facing a balloon payment in about five years.

“The financial situation is terrible,” Grenell said, summarizing the problem. He also said that “the status of the building, it’s in really dire shape” due to deferred maintenance and the center’s lack of money to do proper maintenance.

There is a plan to fix the cash flow issue, however, said Grenell, adding that Trump is capable of righting the ship as a businessman.

More than a dozen new board members were appointed to the center in addition to Trump. Some of the new appointees include Second Lady Usha Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and Allison Lutnick, the wife of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Grenell said Trump’s position is that since the center is an arts institution that requests federal money, “you’ve got to give the public what they want. You should do big blockbuster musicals. You should do traditional Nutcracker at Christmas time. You should do the big art things that appeal to the masses.”

He added: “By the way, that’s great for the bottom line as well,” indicating that the plan could help solve the center’s monetary issues.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Rutter for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.