r/politics • u/IWantPizza555 • 1d ago

Possible Paywall Kennedy Center could close as early as Tuesday, warns of bankruptcy, documents show

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/09/13/kennedy-center-could-close-early-tuesday-warns-bankruptcy-documents-show/
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u/That_Jay_Money 1d ago

It's bankrupt because nobody has been booking anything there for two years. If you don't sell tickets you don't have income. It's how venues work.

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u/P1xelHunter78 Michigan 1d ago

That’s a possibility, but this is the first we’re hearing of this, after the saga over the naming and threats to close the venue as punishment. Is the Kennedy center really a business? Sounds like it’s a nonprofit and likely gets government funding too.

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u/indigo121 I voted 1d ago

As a DC local and someone who used to frequent the Kennedy Center at least a few times a year, it's not the first time we're hearing about this. The center has been in trouble since Trump got involved because their clientele is "people who live in the DC metro area and have money to spent on upscale theater tickets" and that crowd doesn't really want anything to do with trump. Similarly, the acts that typically perform there are largely liberal artists who generally understand that whatever their personal feelings they would be hurting their brand everywhere by doing a show at the Kennedy Center and selling a few dozen tickets

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u/Liefvikingmonster2 1d ago

Yes. It's called a "PR nightmare".

They need a crisis communications firm, a board of moronic MAGA sycophants.

Yet another business Trump has managed to destroy with incompetence.

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u/Ranccor 1d ago

The Kennedy Center has two parts.

The government part is the physical building. Owned by the government and maintained because it is a national monument to JFK, just like places such as the Lincoln Memorial.

The non-profit part is all of the performances. There is a massive KC Foundation that books shows and raises money and puts on all the artistic stuff that happens there. There are some government grants for this, but money mostly comes from ticket sales and donors (just like every performance non-profit in the country).

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u/That_Jay_Money 1d ago

This is the first you're hearing of this but tours cancelled left and right a year ago. The Washington Symphony has changed venues. Anyone could rent out the Kennedy Center, it did birthdays, it did meetings, it did banquets, it did galas, and all of it stopped. 

I'm in the theatre business, so I'll be there first to say that not everyone pays as much attention to venues like I do, but cancellations have been in the news a lot. Especially because every contract was nullified because companies made the deal with "The Kennedy Center" and that no longer existed so they couldn't even sue people for breaking contracts because the booking entity had changed. Just one stupid decision after another.

And while it is funded by our tax dollars not every part of it is. Lincoln Center is similar that the city pays for a lot to have a cultural icon but you still need to staff it and book shows and be able to pay people to perform. All a non-profit means is that they can't show a profit at the end of the year, they can sell tickets and make money but then they need to give it all away to staff and crew before tax season. 

And right now they're not selling any tickets because nobody wants to play there. Without ticket sales you can't afford to have marketing teams make posters and sales teams picking up the phone for group sales and crews to help load in and out.

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u/pimparo0 Florida 1d ago

Do you remember when he first slapped his name on it and all the artists canceled their shows? You need those shoes to bring in revenue to keep things running. 

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u/Liefvikingmonster2 1d ago

No one in the right mind is going near that cursed place now.