President Trump elected President of the Kennedy Center of New Board: NPR

Education Artist-in-Residence Mo Willems monitored a general test in 2019 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

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President Trump is the new President of John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts that comes with a promise, the president made last week. He sent the following On the social media platform truth social Wednesday afternoon.

“President Donald J. Trump was just unanimously elected chairman of the board of the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, that the president said,” it is a great honor to be chairman of the Kennedy Center, especially with this fantastic board. We will make the Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place! “

Trump was elected by a board that excluded the 18 Democratic appointed Cleaned by the president last week. New board members include, according to a statement from the Kennedy Center Vice President’s wife, USHA VANCE and Susie Wiles, Dan Scavino, Allison Lutnick, Lynda Lomangino, Mindy Levine, Pamela Gross, John Falconetti, Cheri Summerall, Sergio Gor, Emilia May Fanjul, Patricia Duggan and Dana Blumberg.

In a statement sent to NPR that marked her departure, the former Kennedy Center -President Deborah Rutter partially said:

“The goal of the Kennedy Center has been to live up to our namesake, serve as a lighthouse for the world and ensure that our work reflects America. I leave my position proud of everything we have achieved to meet this ambition. From the art of Our scenes for the students we have influenced in the classrooms throughout America, everything we have done in the Kennedy Center has been about lifting the human spirit in service to strengthen the culture of our great nation.

“I have been motivated throughout my life by the basic values ​​of America – freedom, equality and a deep belief in the American dream. The core of our American experience is also artistic expression. Artists show the reach of the feelings of life – the highest heights of Joy and the depth of serious despair.

“Like our democracy itself, artistic expressions must be cared for, promoted, prioritized and protected. It is not a passive endeavor; in fact, there is no clearer signs of American democracy at work than our artists, the work they produce, and the audience ‘unavailable right to actively participate. ‘

Trump has boasted of never attending a performance in the country’s national cultural center. He skipped over the Kennedy Center — Head Certificate in 2018Traditionally participated by sitting presidents. A few of the year’s Honorees had vocally criticized his leadership and politics, including singer Cher and theater artist Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Monday, a prolonged ally, Richard Grenell, was appointed temporary director.

For more than a decade, Kennedy Center’s Board of Directors was led by the philanthropist David M. Rubenstein, who had postponed retirement until next year and told New York Times That he thought he was on friendly terms with the president. Until recently, the board of directors of 36 members was especially Bipartisan, where members were split equally between Republicans and Democrats. Several had been appointed by President Bide shortly before stepping down; They included former press secretary in the White House Karine Jean-Pierre and his long-standing aid and adviser, Mike Donilon.

Board members are appointed six years and typically these terms are fulfilled. Kennedy Center’s leadership dealt with the legality of Trump’s actions in a statement Friday.

“According to the center’s governance established by the Congress in 1958, the chairman of the board of the center of the center’s board members is appointed,” it said. “There is nothing in the center’s statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; however, this would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Center’s board.”