Ben Folds, the former artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra, which was housed at the Kennedy Center, spoke out against Trump’s takeover of the institution, saying that he feared political retribution for artists performing at the center.
“With the new partisan toxic environment under the current administration, I could not trust that artists I booked at the Kennedy Center would be safe from retribution if they said or sung something that might displease the president or his political lackeys who now controlled the Center,” Folds said. “I could not perform my job or the mission I was brought on to do, and for this reason, with great sadness, I had no choice but to resign.”
“These days, if an artist agrees to perform at the Kennedy Center, they risk being seen as explicitly endorsing the Trump administration and all of its policies. Declining an invitation to perform at the Kennedy Center will have an equal and opposite political effect. There may be certain artists who will thrive in this environment. Comedians come to mind, but most want nothing to do with it, and will choose to create and perform their art elsewhere, and they are, and audiences are following,” he continued.
Folds appeared at a congressional forum Tuesday convened by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and U.S. Representative Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) entitled “Monumental Waste: How Donald Trump Is Spending Millions Destroying American Landmarks,” which also covered Trump’s renovation of the East Wing of the White House and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, among other projects.
Speaking as one of the witnesses at the Democratic forum, the indie-pop singer and songwriter described how he was appointed the first artistic advisor for the National Symphony Orchestra under the first Trump administration, where he worked to curate programming and bring in artists such as Jon Batiste and Sara Bareilles to perform alongside the orchestra.
Once Trump handpicked his own board members for the Kennedy Center and appointed himself chair, Folds was one of many artists to resign, saying Tuesday that Trump’s political agenda began creeping in, “I think most of us understand that when you politicize art, you get propaganda.”
Since then, Trump affixed his name to the building and announced that he planned to close the Kennedy Center for renovations for two years. A judge ruled in May that the renaming was unlawful, and ordered Trump to remove his name from the building, as well as put a temporary halt to the planned closure, after a lawsuit filed by Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees.
Trump has said that one of his reasons for taking over the Kennedy Center was due to its dire financial straits, but when asked about that assessment Tuesday, Folds said that was not the case.
“We had straight, sold-out shows on our programs, and as far as I knew, at least a few years came up in the black there. It is really, really impressive, and so no, I think the Kennedy Center was going through some golden years, in my opinion,” he said.
With the closure currently up in the air, and many artists having pulled their programming from the center, the future of the Kennedy Center and of the National Symphony Orchestra remains uncertain.
“You have to marvel at anyone who would believe they could run the business of the Kennedy Center with no prior arts administration experience at all. We can see the result has been dwindling audiences, the exit of the Washington National Opera, the dismantling of the national public education outreach programs, and the demoralization of our National Symphony Orchestra. Many of the NSO privately believe that their jobs are in danger,” Folds said in his witness statement.
“So the takeover hobbled the Kennedy Center, broke its once proven successful business model, and disrespected its original core mission. The unlawful addition of the president’s name to the front of the building sent the Kennedy Center into further spiral. While his name has been removed, the Center’s future and the future of the NSO is still uncertain. Our beloved institution needs to be resuscitated,” he continued.
“We need a vibrant Kennedy Center, whose leadership once again understands how to run its business, who will keep politics checked at the doors, who will ensure that only the most qualified arts administrators are in charge. Because we can see the damage that is caused when arts are run by politicians rather than people,” he concluded. “I can only hope your concerns can find their ways to the hearts and minds of your colleagues on the other side of the aisle, who seem absent today.”
