New Year’s Eve concerts at Kennedy Center canceled after name change

ERIC LEE / NEW YORK TIMES

A tarp is removed after workers added the name of President Donald Trump to the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington on Dec. 19. The name change has been followed by several cancellations of scheduled performances.

A veteran jazz ensemble and a New York dance company have canceled events at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, intensifying the fallout at one of the nation’s preeminent arts centers after it was renamed to include President Donald Trump.

The center had promoted two New Year’s Eve performances by the Cookers as an “all-star jazz septet that will ignite the Terrace Theater stage with fire and soul.” But those performances, like an annual Christmas Eve jazz concert hosted by Chuck Redd, are now canceled.

The Cookers did not give a reason for the decision in a statement Monday that said, “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice.”

But the band’s drummer, Billy Hart, told The New York Times that the center’s name change had “evidently” played a role. He acknowledged that the group was concerned about possible reprisals.

Doug Varone and Dancers, a New York dance company, also said Monday that it was canceling two performances in April that had been intended to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Varone, the head of the company, said it would lose $40,000 by pulling out.

“It is financially devastating but morally exhilarating,” he said in an email.

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Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center’s chair, said in a statement Monday night that the artists canceling shows were “far-left political activists” and that they had been booked by previous leadership. “Boycotting the arts to show you support the arts is a form of derangement syndrome,” he said.

After Redd canceled the Christmas Eve concert, Grenell called it “classic intolerance” and threatened a $1 million lawsuit.

An earlier set of withdrawals and resignations, including Pulitzer winner Rhiannon Giddens, soprano Renee Fleming and singer-songwriter Ben Folds, took place in February after the president pushed out members of the board of directors and replaced them with his supporters.

The artists who have protested in recent weeks include Kristy Lee, a folk singer from Alabama, who announced she was pulling out from a free concert on Jan. 14. “I won’t lie to you, canceling shows hurts,” she said in a social media post. “This is how I keep the lights on. But losing my integrity would cost me more than any paycheck.”

In the statement posted by the Cookers on Monday, the band alluded to disagreements in Washington.

“Our hope is that this moment will leave space for reflection, not resentment,” the statement said. “To everyone who is disappointed or upset, we understand and share your sadness. We remain committed to playing music that reaches across divisions rather than deepening them.”

Doug Varone and Dancers were scheduled to appear at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater on April 24-25. Varone said the group had agreed to appear to honor two of the center’s top dance administrators — Jane Raleigh and Alicia Adams — both of whom have since departed.

“We can no longer permit ourselves nor ask our audiences to step inside this once great institution,” he said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2025 The New York Times Company

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