It’s true! Or at least that’s what the current head of the organization, Ric Grenell, is adamant about.
Grenell says that the Kennedy Center was losing money before, and That Is A Bad Thing. But now, despite plummeting ticket sales (but, Grenell assures us! lots of Big Donors donating bigly), the Trump-Kennedy Center is completely profitable, which is the important thing, because profit!
Surely that’s what was intended by Congress for the Kennedy Center. It’s right there in its Mission Statement, right?
As America’s performing arts center, and a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, we are a leader for the arts across the United States and around the world, connecting the greatest living artists with audiences of every stripe, no matter their background. We welcome all Americans and creators and visitors from across the globe to discover, experience, learn about, be inspired by, and engage with the arts.
Oh, but there’s a Vision Statement where we will see that making money is the bestest vision there is, right?
We are the nation’s beacon for the performing arts, engaging artists and audiences around the world to share, inspire, and celebrate the cultural heritage by which a great society is defined and remembered.
Okay, then their Value statement surely shows how Value = Cash Value, right?
Excellence | Service | Inspiration | Collaboration | Curiosity | Discovery
Oh, look — three pillars, too! Surely —
The work of the Kennedy Center has been built upon three pillars:
- Presenting, producing, and curating world-class art;
- Offering powerful education to people of all ages, everywhere; and
- Fulfilling our mandate as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy.
(And, for at least the next three years, a living memorial to President Donald J. Trump, law suits notwithstanding.)
I don’t imagine the Center’s Social Credo is any use here …
As the Nation’s Cultural Center, the Kennedy Center’s objective is to invite art into the lives of all Americans and ensure it represents the cultural diversity of America.
Oh, no! They used the D word! Oh, the shame!
Note: I fully expect all of this to get scrubbed into something more Patriotic and Populist and White and Profit-Seeking as soon as they figure out what the new URL is going to be (as far as I can see, the main change is to add “Trump” to the web page header). That said, I’m also shocked that this little bit hasn’t been redacted with a hatchet:
Across all that we do, the Kennedy Center strives to cultivate a culture of inclusiveness, in which our art and our audiences are as rich, diverse, and ever-changing as America itself.
But America can never change! America is the Greatest! Also, they used the I word and the D word! Though they included the word “rich” so that’s allowed.
Anyway, nowhere in any of that is terminology about “fiscal responsibility” or “breaking even” or “taking care of the budget deficit caused by all those irresponsible tax cuts.”
There is a “Fast Fact” about how the Center’s budget works:
The Kennedy Center’s operating budget is composed primarily of ticket revenue and private philanthropy. As a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, the Kennedy Center receives an annual federal appropriation for capital repairs and maintenance of its facilities.
So all the blurring of budget lines between “Ew, nobody likes that music!” and “Look how bad the maintenance is!” makes no sense; the former is about ticket sales (if they were actually insufficient) and donors (which Grenell seems to think are now flocking to the Center), and the latter about Congress allocating sufficient funds to keep the place up. That breakout is clear when you look at the FY26 budget request, which only deals with O&M costs.
Grennell spent his time in the PBS News Hour interview basically saying:
- The multiple stories that ticket sales are down are not true. Or at least the specifics are not true; he didn’t specify.
- There are Lots of Big Donors Donating Bigly.
- PBS is biased and losing money itself, nyah!
- Making money is the important thing here. Losing money is “immoral.”
Inspiring words, indeed. Clearly the US is on its way to being a leader in the creative arts, just as it is becoming a leader in civil liberties and making the world a safer, freer place.
