With the Kennedy Center as the backdrop, Jane Fonda found herself on familiar terrain on Friday — raising an alarm in the nation’s capital, this time over what she described as a growing threat to freedom posed by the Trump administration.
Americans, the actress said in a speech, are “witnessing censorship, political intimidation, and a growing effort to reshape American history and cultural life through fear and attacks on our First Amendment.”
The event was titled “Artists United for Our Freedom,” and was hosted by the Committee for the First Amendment, a collective of artists that promotes free expression. The gathering, on a rainy afternoon with roughly 100 invited guests, included remarks and appearances by people like the actor Sam Waterston, the poet Rupi Kaur, the comedy writer Bess Kalb and the singer Joan Baez.
Ms. Fonda, 88, was one of the artists who last fall spearheaded a relaunch of the committee, which was originally formed in 1947 by a group that included her father, Henry, the actor, as a counter to the McCarthy-era House Un-American Activities Committee. The House panel’s actions led to the blacklisting of artists accused of being Communist sympathizers.
“Today, books are being banned, plaques and monuments depicting historical events this administration wants to forget are being removed,” Ms. Fonda told the crowd.
The White House responded to the demonstration with a statement suggesting that critics have unfairly undervalued the administration’s efforts to overhaul the center.
“President Trump is in the process of making the Trump-Kennedy Center the finest performing arts facility in the world for all Americans to enjoy,” Davis Ingle, a spokesman, said in the statement. “No one cares what Jane Fonda has to say.”
Ms. Baez, 85, and Ms. Fonda have long been ardent activists and are certainly no strangers to demonstrating in Washington. Baez performed the gospel song “We Shall Overcome” at 1963’s March on Washington. She was also a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War. In 1967, the Daughters of the American Revolution denied Baez the use of its Constitution Hall for a concert because of her antiwar activism, so she set up a free concert near the Washington Monument instead.
On Friday, Ms. Baez took the stage with the singer Maggie Rogers and performed the Bob Dylan song “The Times They Are a-Changin’,” followed by an a cappella performance of the Civil Rights-era anthem “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.”
While Ms. Baez said her 2018 album “Whistle Down the Wind” would be her last, and her touring days have wound down, she has steadily made her political views known, performing, for example, last fall at a “No Kings” rally in San Francisco.
Like Ms. Baez, Ms. Fonda was an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War whom critics labeled “Hanoi Jane” after a 1972 photograph emerged of Fonda on top of an antiaircraft gun next to North Vietnamese troops. The criticism did not affect her opposition, but she has apologized several times for posing in that setting.
She has remained an active demonstrator in the Washington area since. In 2019, Ms. Fonda was arrested repeatedly outside of the United States Capitol as part of a climate change protest, part of a monthslong effort by Ms. Fonda to draw attention to the issue.
While the Kennedy Center was not the direct focus of the event, staging the demonstration outside its doors was no accident. The institution has been the site of tumult since Mr. Trump began his second term. Everything from its name, programming, staffing and pending renovations have been the source of debate, with critics suggesting that the president’s efforts have undermined Washington’s cultural hearth and led to its needless closing.
“I considered turning in my Kennedy Center Honor, but realized that would be admitting defeat,” Ms. Baez, who received the award in 2021, told the crowd. “It would mean that we’d given into a bully and a tyrant who is doing his best to strip us of our freedoms, to strip us of our joy.”
This week, a bloc of cultural and architectural groups filed a lawsuit that argued the administration’s effort to close the center for renovations was not authorized by law. Earlier this month, Richard Grenell, the center’s president, departed after a year that saw artists and organizations depart because of concerns that the administration had gone too far to impose Mr. Trump’s will on the programming and his name on the building.
Mr. Grenell had insisted that he had helped to rescue an institution suffering from financial mismanagement and overly “woke” entertainment offerings.
On Thursday, the center initiated the first in what is expected to be a series of layoffs of staff members, a fact that Ms. Fonda nodded to in her remarks. Some of the audience members included former Kennedy Center employees.
“This beloved citadel of the arts,” Ms. Fonda said, “has become a symbol of what is happening.”
Sopan Deb is a Times reporter covering breaking news and culture.
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