The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., is reportedly dismantling its “Social Impact” initiative and laying off employees affiliated with the project.
“This decision was made after careful consideration and is based on the Kennedy Center’s staffing needs,” the Kennedy Center’s vice president of human resources said, according to a copy of a letter sent to a laid off staffer, obtained by NPR.
Seven of the Social Impact-related employees were informed on Tuesday that they had been laid off, while three other staffers whose work does not focus on the initiative’s stated goal to provide outreach programs to local underserved communities, were retained, artistic director of Social Impact, Marc Bamuthi Joseph — who was also let go — told the outlet.
“How do you access the American promise if you don’t have access to the impulse of creativity?” Joseph complained.
“As the nation’s cultural center, the Kennedy Center has an obligation to ask itself that question every day… to respond to the call of its namesake who imagined an America that was ‘unafraid of grace and beauty,’” he added.
“Our work in Social Impact was to widen our cultural radius and to imagine that inspiration itself was a constitutional right afforded to ALL of this nation’s people,” Joseph concluded.
Last month, President Donald Trump was made chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts following the firing of President Deborah Rutter.
At a Kennedy Center board meeting last week, President Trump said he was “disappointed” with how the how the federal government-owned building looked although it underwent a $250 million expansion project in 2019.
“I’m very disappointed when I look around,” the 45th and 47th president said. “The bottom line: It has tremendous potential. And we’ll work with Congress — it’s a very public facility, and we’ll do what has to be done.”
“We’re going to fix it up,” President Trump added. “It’s really emblematic of our country.”
Leftists, meanwhile, have decried the president’s decision to depoliticize the Kennedy Center, with actress Issa Rae, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, and others canceling appearances. Drag queens have also protested outside the center after their performances were canceled, and Vice President JD Vance and his family were booed while recently attending an event.
Last month, left-wing activists were seen protesting President Trump at the Kennedy Center with chants and interpretative dance.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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