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Several hundred activists gathered at the Kennedy Center Friday night in opposition to President Donald Trump’s attempted takeover of the presidential memorial and threats that he will close and demolish it.
Activists were expected to link hands and form a human chain outside the Washington venue, demanding Trump be removed as its chairman for failing to protect and manage it. Trump installed himself as chairman of the Kennedy Center last year after removing its previous leadership and replacing board members with his own appointees.
“The demonstration opposes the recent sudden closure of the facility, the installation of security fencing, and political efforts to alter or demolish portions of the presidential memorial,” the group said on its website.
The Hands Off the Arts organization behind the rally and protest said they expect hundreds of people to gather on the center’s steps for musical performances, testimonials and speeches before forming a human chain around the building. The group has held various protests outside the performing arts venue this year.
Mallory Miller, Hands Off the Arts co-founder, said Trump is “not an appropriate leader” for the Kennedy Center and criticized the president’s efforts to add his name to the exterior of the building.
“The Kennedy Center can’t be renamed for anyone else. It’s a memorial to John F. Kennedy. It’s like silly to suggest otherwise. And it’s not just silly — it’s insulting and it’s degrading and it’s un-American,” Miller told News.
Miller, who was a former assistant manager of dance programming at the Kennedy Center, lost her job in 2025 as part of mass layoffs as the administration restructured the Kennedy Center.
“Artists are the risk takers in our society,” Miller said “… We are the people who create the world that comes next, and that is what the Kennedy Center means to all of us. This is a building that belongs to the American people, not one person and it’s our Kennedy Center. We are the Kennedy Center.”
The activist coalition, which says it formed after leadership changes at the Kennedy Center in recent months, said its goal is to reclaim the Kennedy Center from “authoritarian overreach and protect other arts and cultural institutions from similar fates,” according to the group’s website.
Earlier this week, Trump said the Kennedy Center could be “ripped down” if his administration doesn’t receive recognition on the performing arts center as tensions over his name being removed from the venue mount.
“I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down,” the president told reporters.
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as Trump has threatened.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper issued the order after lawyers for Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the board, cited Trump’s warning that the center could be “ripped down” and submitted photographs appearing to show the Trump examining a placard labeled “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED” on Wednesday night. The photos were taken Wednesday night through a cabin window on Air Force One.
The venue “cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Cooper ruled.
The judge earlier this week ruled that Trump’s name could not be added to the center’s exterior without congressional approval. The board previously placed his name on the facade, and removed it in June after an earlier ruling.
Trump has argued that the center is in poor condition and requires substantial government support to remain open.
“It’s in very, very bad shape, very dangerous shape,” Trump said Wednesday. “You see steel falling down. You see plaster falling off ceilings. You see a lot of dangers.”
News’ Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
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