Bravo to the courageous performing artists who’ve righteously refused to look at Washington, D.C.’s, Kennedy Middle within the weeks since President Trump added his title to the facade.
“The Kennedy Center was founded to be an apolitical home for free artistic expression for artists of all nationalities and ideologies,” the Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer stated in an announcement.
“It is no longer apolitical, and appearing there has now become an ideological statement. “As long as that remains the case, I will not appear there.”
Schwartz is greatest identified to this era of followers for composing the rating to “Wicked,” the wildly well-liked Broadway present that has discovered new life on the massive display screen.
”Depraved: For Good” is at present enjoying in film theaters.
Stephen Schwartz attends as Common Photos proudly presents the “Wicked: For Good” US premiere on Nov. 17, 2025 in New York Metropolis. (Photograph by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Photographs for Common Photos)
The movie highlights, as “The Wizard of Oz” and “The Wiz” earlier than it, the evil schemes of the person behind the scenes.
However “wicked” may simply as simply describe the person behind the Oval Workplace door.
This wizard doesn’t even use a curtain. He is aware of no disgrace. We’ve stated that every single day since he has been in workplace, each this time and the final, but he continuously manages to one-up himself.
Whether or not he’s tearing down the East Wing of the White Home for a ballroom monument to himself, or tearing down the nation’s legacy of range and civil rights, Trump, just like the film’s Wizard of Oz, has put himself above his constituents.
The newest instance is Trump’s effort to hijack The John F. Kennedy Memorial Middle for the Performing Arts.
The Kennedy Middle, as it’s extra generally identified, opened in 1971 as a residing memorial to President John F. Kennedy, who was killed by an murderer’s bullet in 1963.
Schwartz attended the middle’s opening.
New signage, The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Middle For The Performing Arts, is unveiled on the Kennedy Middle, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)
Final yr, Trump ditched the Kennedy Middle’s current board and put in a slate of loyalists to supervise the venue. Since then, the middle has reduce workers and reevaluated its programming.
However the final straw was when Trump added his title to the facade, just like the performing arts heart was one in all his glitzy on line casino inns.
Not solely did Trump desecrate the middle by including his title. He gave himself high billing.
He put his title in entrance.
“Next thing perhaps he will want to rename JFK Airport, rename the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Lincoln Memorial. The Trump Jefferson Memorial. The Trump Smithsonian. The list goes on.”
Students stated Trump’s transfer requires congressional approval, and ignores a regulation that explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the middle right into a memorial to anybody else.
“The Board shall assure that after December 2, 1983, no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,” the U.S. code states.
Why will we stand for this?
Happily, some persons are pushing again. Along with Schwartz, different artists have canceled their live shows or refused to look on the heart.
That features New York Metropolis-based dance firm Doug Varone and Dancers, whose director, Doug Varone, stated the corporate is dropping cash over the choice.
“Everyone in our organization from our board to our dancers to our staff all supported this decision,” Varone informed CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.” “I can’t imagine any artist wanting to step through those doors right now with his name on that building.”
Even George Steinbrenner knew sufficient to not put his title on Yankee Stadium.
