Rhiannon Giddens performs at ‘A New York Night With Rhiannon Giddens’ at Nationwide Sawdust on August 17, 2023, in New York Metropolis.
Rob Kim/Getty Pictures for The Recording Academy
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Rob Kim/Getty Pictures for The Recording Academy
Folks musician Rhiannon Giddens introduced on social media that she has moved her Might 11 live performance – initially scheduled for the John F. Kennedy Middle for the Performing Arts – to a unique venue in Washington, D.C.
Giddens mentioned within the Threads publish: “The Kennedy Middle present was booked lengthy earlier than the present administration determined to take over this beforehand non-political establishment, however I can’t in good conscience play at The Kennedy with the current programming adjustments compelled on the establishment by this new board.”
The present will now happen on the identical date at The Anthem, one other venue in D.C., the musician mentioned.
When requested for a response, a Kennedy Middle spokesperson mentioned that the Middle itself has not modified any programming since President Trump put in movement various management adjustments earlier this month.
On Feb. 7, Trump introduced on Reality Social that he can be terminating “a number of people from the Board of Trustees, together with the Chairman,” referring to longtime Kennedy Middle chair and main donor David Rubenstein. Kennedy Middle president Deborah Rutter was additionally ousted.
The brand new board is made up solely of Trump appointees and Trump himself is now chair, an unprecedented transfer. Historically, the performing arts heart, a “dwelling memorial” to President John F. Kennedy, has had a bipartisan board.
Giddens, a MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer Prize winner, joins a rising checklist of artists who’ve canceled upcoming exhibits on the Kennedy Middle in response to the management adjustments.
They embrace the Brooklyn-based, Puerto Rican band Balún, which was scheduled to carry out Feb. 27. “Latest occasions made it clear that the house not aligns with our values. Our security, integrity, and dedication to justice come first,” the band introduced on Instagram over the weekend.
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Thriller author Louise Penny was scheduled to launch her new e-book The Black Wolf on the Kennedy Middle, “however within the wake of Trump taking up, I’ve pulled out,” she wrote on Fb. “It was, after all, going to be a profession spotlight. However there are issues much more vital than that.”
In her announcement, Giddens wrote that she would not “choose anybody for selecting to go on with their exhibits; it is a extremely tough state of affairs for artists proper now and everybody has to do what makes probably the most sense for them within the second.”
Story edited by Jennifer Vanasco
