Artists from the “Hands Off the Arts” coalition stand strong outside the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The group gathers to protest the takeover of the institution every week.
Hands off the Arts
Hands off the Arts: protests
at the Kennedy Center
I stand with the “Hands Off The Arts” (HOTA) protest group. They have been showing up every Friday evening since March 2026 to speak out against a planned 2-year closure of the center and mass layoffs. And especially infuriating — Trump’s name on the facade.
The leadership, staff, and board members that built the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts into a standard of cultural excellence were kicked out by the Trump administration.
He installed his lackeys who fired staff and artistic directors leading to canceled events and hundreds of talented performers — actors and musicians, dancers and singers — left out of work. The Washington National Opera and the National Symphony Orchestra, both residents at the center, are now homeless.
Those talented artists got angry and then got grit. They formed HOTA, a diverse coalition of volunteers, fighting to keep the Kennedy Center open.
We fight for arts workers to be able to exercise their first amendment right to free speech and association.
We fight against government and political control of artistic expression.
We refuse to let arts and culture become a tool of authoritarian control.
I joined the group on a special Friday night, May 29, 2026 to commemorate the 109th anniversary of President Kennedy’s birth.
It was a hot-humid day in D.C. and as we chatted holding our protest signs, we got word of some good news. The U.S. District Judge Cooper ordered the removal of Donald Trump’s name. We were ecstatic!
The court had a two-week deadline for removal. I was there, June 12th, all afternoon and evening, watching the slow construction of scaffolding. Why all the scaffolding?
We found out when the workers lifted an enormous tarp over the structure, meant to hide removal of his name. Which happened out of sight at 3:00 AM when I and the protesters were home in bed.
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts saga continues. Voldemort’s name is down, but the true purpose of the tarp has been revealed — to keep the Kennedy Center facade shrouded. Concealed and hidden. A coverup and a crime.
The National Symphony Orchestra recently played at Wolf Trap, a Virginia venue. Drew Sesquipedalian, aka “Drybraian,” attended and posted on social media:
“This piece, Shostakovich’s 10th symphony, was composed in Russia under Stalin’s iron repression, and is a warning about what happens when we abandon checks and balances,” explained conductor Steve Reineke.
After a HUGE applause from the audience, “You get it,” Reineke said. “You understand the assignment.”
The NSO still has no budget, no home, and no future.
But the intrepid HOTA activists have sparked an arts rebellion to government domination. Their energy and determination galvanized powerful people to support them such as Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, who led the litigation that resulted in the removal of Trump’s name.
“The Federal Court made it clear: the Kennedy Center belongs to the PEOPLE — not Donald Trump. It’s a monumental win for democracy and the rule of law. The fight for our democracy continues — and it’s always worth the climb.”
— Congresswoman Joyce Beatty