Insiders stunned by Kennedy Center’s 'truly shocking' downturn under Trump

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U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend "Les Miserables" opening night at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura

Nine months after President Donald Trump took over the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, seats remain empty as sales plummet to shocking levels, according to the Washington Post.

“We had spent way too much on programming that doesn’t bring in any revenue,” Richard Grenell, a Trump ally and former ambassador to Germany, told the Washington Reporter in March, blaming the center for being too woke.

But now more than a month into the center's main season, the Post says things look bleak.

According to a Post analysis of ticketing data from recent shows and past seasons, "ticket sales for the Kennedy Center’s three largest performance venues are the worst they’ve been in years," with "tens of thousands of seats" left empty.

Since September, 43 percent of tickets have gone unsold, with many of those that did sell being "comps", or freebies, to staff or press, the Post says, compared to 93 percent sold or comped in fall 2024 and 80 percent in fall 2023.

The analysis shows over 50,000 seats remaining vacant.

"Unfilled seats are now a regular feature of Washington’s national center for the performing arts," the Post says.

"Less than half as much money was spent on tickets in September and the first half of October 2025 as during that same period in 2024,: the Post says, adding that "this is less than people spent on the center during any other year since 2018 except 2020, when the venue was locked down for most of the year."

This staggering drop will lead to fewer donations, according to Michael Kaiser, who served as Kennedy Center president from 2001 to 2014.

“Depressed ticket sales not only cause a shortfall in revenue; they also bode unfavorably for future fundraising revenue,” Kaiser told the Post.

"The vast majority of donors are ticket buyers who are anxious to enhance their relationships with the organization by making contributions in addition to paying for their tickets. We had 40,000 generous individual donors by the time I left the Center in 2014. Funding from these individuals formed the foundation for all we accomplished," Kaiser explained.

Grennell's criticism of the center's previous management, the Post says, does not justify the downturn.

"Swaths of empty seats were an unusual sight in the large venues before the takeover," according to The Post’s analysis.

Grennell has also blamed the center for being deep in debt. But, as the Post explains, "shows selling this poorly leave more than $1 million in potential revenue on the table — just 45 days into the season."

“Given the unprecedented takeover of a nonpartisan arts institution combined with the inexperience and rhetoric of the new management, I expected a decline in sales; however, it is truly shocking to see that these actions have been worse for business at the Kennedy Center than the aftermath of a global pandemic,” a former staff member told the Post.

The staffer also noted that things may be worse than they look.

“These numbers are likely more dire than they appear, as they don’t account for canceled productions or shows moved into smaller theaters due to weak ticket sales," they said.

Under Trump and Grennell, the Kennedy Center has seen "an influx of Christian programming, but many of these events have been free to the public," the Post says.

Many programming executives have resigned or been fired as part of what the Post calls a "broader trend of layoffs at the center."

A current Kennedy Center staff member said that neither pricing nor programming have contributed to empty seats.

"This downturn isn’t just about pricing or programming — it feels directly tied to the new regime’s leadership shift and the broader political climate,” said a current staff member, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “I’ve heard from ticket buyers who say they’re choosing not to attend because of what the Kennedy Center now represents. The brand itself has become polarizing, which is unprecedented in my experience.”

Staffers also say they've gotten a lot more free tickets than in previous years when the center "offered hundreds of comp seats for shows to 'paper the house,' or to make it look like ticket sales are higher than they actually are."

“All in all, it is not a sustainable situation,” another anonymous staff member said.

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