By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump will visit the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Monday after ousting its leadership, taking over as chair, and seeking to put his stamp on the renowned arts institution.
Trump, a Republican who has upended U.S. policy in numerous areas at home and abroad since coming into office on Jan. 20, will preside over a Kennedy Center board meeting in his new role on Monday afternoon.
“We have to straighten it out,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One after spending the weekend in Florida, referring to an arts organization that has enjoyed bipartisan support for decades.
Last month Trump became chair of the Kennedy Center and fired its longtime president, Deborah Rutter. He installed his former ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, as interim president.
Trump declined to attend the annual Kennedy Center Honors performances during his first term in office and complained, when announcing plans to shake up the institution’s board, about drag performances held there.
Some artists have canceled engagements because of the changes. The musical “Hamilton,” which had been slated to do its third run at the Washington landmark next year, pulled out.
“The recent purge by the Trump Administration of both professional staff and performing arts events at or originally produced by the Kennedy Center flies in the face of everything this national cultural center represents,” the show’s producer, Jeffrey Seller, said in a statement on X.
Grenell called the decision “a publicity stunt that will backfire” and knocked the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
“The Arts are for everyone – not just for the people who Lin likes and agrees with,” Grenell said on X.
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, who is now a member of the board, attended a recent performance at the Kennedy Center. After they entered the theater, the crowd booed.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Nathan Layne)
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