WASHINGTON — Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell suggested the iconic D.C. cultural venue’s recent success, spurred by the “common sense” efforts of President Donald Trump, represents hope for an otherwise grim landscape for the arts.
In a Friday evening interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation, Grenell emphasized the Center, under the president’s leadership, has become a “place for everyone” regardless of politics. Trump spearheaded a successful takeover of the storied venue in February, firing board members appointed by then-President Joe Biden and appointing a new board chaired by himself — sparking some backlash from the left and corporate media.
The president named Grenell as interim executive director of the Kennedy Center during his takeover in February. Grenell previously served as both acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and U.S. Ambassador to Germany during Trump’s first administration.
“We want everyone to come to the Kennedy Center regardless of who you voted for. This is a place for everyone,” Grenell told the DCNF. “And since I’ve arrived, we haven’t canceled a single show. We have just simply demanded that if you can’t sell enough seats with your production and you can’t find a sponsor to cover the cost that then you’re on the hook. We just can’t have productions where we’re losing money.”
Grenell pointed to a Sep. 22 New York Times article, “The Broadway Musical Is in Trouble,” which he called a “very important story.”
“Broadway is struggling. Shows close very fast. Productions are losing money. People aren’t coming out to see these shows,” Grenell said, summarizing the article. “And we want to change that.”
Of the 18 musical productions scheduled to open on Broadway during its 2024-25 season, not one has become profitable, the outlet reported. Moreover, three new musicals — which all carried budgets in the tens of millions — all reportedly closed just months into their runs.
“President Trump was very keen to confront this issue of dying arts. And what he wanted to do is to do big common sense productions that fill the audience,” the Kennedy Center president told the DCNF. “We’ve been selling out through ‘Les [Misérables]’ and through ‘The Sound of Music’ regularly and this is exactly what I think the arts needs.”
“Les Misérables,” an award-winning sung-through musical based on Victor Hugo’s classic 1862 novel, played at the Kennedy Center from June 11 – July 13, 2025. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” began its run at the center Sept. 9, kicking off a new North American tour for the musical. The production, directed by Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien, will conclude its run at the Kennedy Center on Oct. 5, 2025.
In the months after Trump first launched his campaign to reshape the Kennedy Center, the center’s staff made multiple changes to emphasize a more commercially-oriented approach prioritizing audience demand over political agendas and interest groups.
Kennedy Center Vice President of PR Roma Daravi said the iconic venue is expanding its “programming to include more options and bring in fan-favorites that appeal to the masses,” in a Sept. 9 statement to The Daily Caller.
The Kennedy Center announced in May — three months after Trump’s takeover — it green-lighted shows not bound by the Actors’ Equity Association union, the Caller first reported. This marked a departure from its previous policy, in which only union-bound productions were allowed. This hampered the center’s ability to compete with other Washington-area theaters, a Kennedy Center spokesperson told the Caller at the time.
“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote in a February post to Truth Social announcing his takeover. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP. The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation. For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”
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