Washington Performing Arts “will not utilize The Kennedy Center” for performances in its upcoming season, the organization announced Thursday. Instead, it says, it will use venues like the Music Center at Strathmore and Lisner Auditorium.
The season’s highlights include Sigourney Weaver and the Pacifica Quartet at Sixth and I for WPA’s annual Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Concert, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore, Yo-Yo Ma at Strathmore, and Midori at Sixth and I.
A spokesperson for WPA says the presenter works to “thoughtfully match artists and their work with venues that best serve the art, the audience, and the moment.” In that light, the spokesperson says, “we assessed the variety of artists and performances we have in this upcoming season and decided it was best to explore new spaces that offer fresh possibilities.”
Other artists and organizations have spurned the Kennedy Center since President Trump took it over, most prominently a touring production of Hamilton. Trump has expressed a desire for the center to present shows like The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables—which the center will present next month, though some cast members said they plan to sit out a performance for Trump.
In other Kennedy Center news, Deborah Rutter, its former president, disputed allegations by Ric Grenell, the boss Trump installed, who has claimed that the center was operating in the red and said he wanted federal prosecutors to investigate the center’s previous management. She and David Rubenstein, the former board chair, said the board reviewed all financial decisions under their tenure, and Rubenstein said a “major accounting firm” had also signed off on budgets. The center also had $10 million in a “Sustainability Fund” when she left, Rutter said. Grenell has not shared any documents or other evidence that backs up his assertions, the Washington Post reports.
You can peruse WPA’s fall season offerings here.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
