Thousands of supporters of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts gathered Friday as the sun set over the Potomac, surrounded as much of the building as they could, linked arms and chanted: “Hands off! Hands off!”
For the first time in what felt to them like ages, their beloved arts center was brimming with life.
The vigil, which had been in the works for months, took on fresh urgency at the end of a week that saw the doors to the marble building locked shut, while President Donald Trump indicated the structure could be “ripped down” if his name isn’t added to the institution.
There were dogs and bikers; elders with gray hair and babies with no hair; people in Nationals jerseys and business casual attire (equally ubiquitous D.C. uniforms). Most wore one common item: a red pin that read, “Hands Off the Arts.”
The protest was organized by an advocacy group of the same name, which was founded by Kennedy Center staff in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s takeover last spring and has since campaigned against his changes to the institution.
“The center had more or less become like a mausoleum rather than a vibrant cultural center,” co-organizer Mallory Miller said before the vigil. “But a lot of us have amazing memories of the center hustling and bustling with people. We wanted to kind of bring that feeling back.”
The event was initially planned for July as a cap to the group’s 172-day protest of Trump’s changes at the center. It was intended to celebrate what they saw as victories — Richard Grenell’s stepping down from his role as interim head and the center’s continued operations past July 4, when it had been previously scheduled to close. The vigil was postponed due to wildfire smoke and rescheduled for the third Friday in September — a date organizers didn’t expect to have any special significance.
Then came the events of this week. On Tuesday, the Kennedy Center’s board voted to close its main building for two years and Trump threatened to cancel a roughly $250 million renovation unless his name was added to the center. On Wednesday, fencing was erected around the arts center and, that evening, Trump was photographed on Air Force One examining a printout with a partially visible title that appeared to read “Kennedy Center DEMOLIS[HED].” Thursday, a federal judge turned down a request for an emergency hearing about potential demolition but ordered the center to provide notice ahead of any construction, including demolition.
So by Friday, many arts patrons were ready to protest. Early in the day, organizers expected about a thousand. By the end of the evening, they estimated the turnout was several times that number.
Tara Hoot, a prominent D.C. drag performer and event co-organizer, hosted a storytime event at the center before Trump’s takeover. Appearances like hers were cited by Trump and his new leadership team as an examples of the kind of woke programming they wanted gone. She said she carries what feels like a responsibility to protect the institution now.
“It’s an obligation for me to be out there fighting back,” she said in an interview with The Post.
On Friday, Hoot dressed in honor of the American flag — long red dress, white floral pin, blue shawl. “It’s time to take that tarp down,” she said, pointing to the sheet behind her that has covered the building’s facade since Trump’s name was ordered to be removed.
“Take it down!” the crowd chanted back to her.
Donna Smits, 67, traveled from Delaware early Friday morning after learning about the planned protest around 11 p.m. the night before.
She stood in the plaza’s garden and looked up at the tarp through her gold-detailed RayBans. She was close to tears.
“It hurts a lot to look at it like that, to see all the beautiful fountains off,” Smits said. “Nobody’s name belongs on this center except John Kennedy’s.”
The rally began with impassioned speeches from activists, artists and politicians, including D.C. Council Member Robert C. White Jr., who recalled being introduced the arts as a third-grader visiting the center and returning decades later to watch his own third-grade daughter perform.
Lynda Carter, the actress known to most as Wonder Woman, made a surprise appearance to stress the importance of arts for humanity. “Music and the arts is how we actually survive,” she said. “It is how we learn. It is about vibration in the universe. It is about gravity, it’s about our souls.”
Additional fencing was constructed Friday and some parts of the campus have been closed to the public for several weeks, so the attendees were not able to encircle the main building as initially planned. Organizers posited that were it not for the barriers, the crowd that assembled could’ve circled the structure two and a half times.
Jasmine Small, who worked in ticket sales at the Kennedy Center for seven years, watched the human chain form from her perch on the plaza. She was among the first layoffs last year.
“I’m showing up today, because no one showed up with my colleagues,” Small said. “I’m going to have a voice for them to say that we won’t be forgotten.”
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, whose show at the Kennedy Center for World Pride last May was canceled days after the president was announced as chair person of the institution, returned to perform at the vigil.
While the sky grew dark, they began a song from “Ragtime.”
“Will justice be demanded by 10 million righteous men? Make them hear you / When they hear you / I’ll be near you again.”
Then, as if on cue, the exterior lights of the building flickered to life.
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