WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington National Opera announced Friday that it will move performances away from the Kennedy Center in another high-profile departure following President Donald Trump’s takeover of the U.S. capital’s leading performing arts venue.
The opera said it will seek to end its affiliation with the Kennedy Center through an “amicable transition” and will return to operating independently.
Though Congress still formally calls it the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the building’s exterior and website now refer to it as the Trump Kennedy Center.
Ric Grenell, a Trump aide serving as the Center’s interim executive director, said the venue has spent millions to support the Washington National Opera but it continues to operate at a deficit.
The December rebranding as the Trump Kennedy Center led to a new wave of cancellations.
Opera officials said the Center’s new business model requires productions to be fully funded in advance, which it said is “incompatible with opera operations.”
Late Friday, WNO productions of “Treemonisha,” “The Crucible” and “West Side Story” were still listed on the Kennedy Center website. »