“A nation is an association of reasonable beings united in a peaceful sharing of the things they cherish; therefore, to determine the quality of a nation, you must consider what those things are.”
— St. Augustine, quoted in the NEA’s first annual report (1965)1
The evolving fate and future of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, is simultaneously unique in its particulars and universal in the structures and challenges it reveals about the nonprofit and public arts.
JOIN ME IN PERSON ON NOVEMBER 17: For those in the Washington, DC, area, I’ll be giving a public talk about the Kennedy Center hosted by Profs & Pints: Tuesday, November 17, 2026, 6:00 - 8:30 pm, at Penn Social. Details and tickets.
I’ve now written three explainer articles for The Conversation about the unfolding story that began in February 2025. Each is an attempt to name the underlying dynamics and separate signal from noise.
February 17, 2025
Trump has purged the Kennedy Center’s board, which in turn made him its chair – why does that matter?February 4, 2026
Trump wants to shutter the Kennedy Center for 2 years – an arts management professor explains what that portendsSeptember 25, 2026
Trump has gotten rid of many of the checks and balances that could stop him from demolishing the Kennedy Center
I’m confident there will be more chapters in this adventure. But wanted to share these here since they speak to the weird world and work of arts management.
From the ArtsManaged Field Guide
Function of the Week: Governance
Governance involves structuring, sustaining, and overseeing the organization's purposes, resources, and goals (often through boards or trustees).
Framework of the Week: Art Worlds
Art Worlds is a concept by sociologist Howard Becker that describes the interconnected networks of people, resources, and conventions necessary for producing and experiencing art. It emphasizes that beyond artists, an "art world" includes technical, craft, business participants, and the social norms that shape artistic expression.
Photo by Xavier Miró Bruix, via Wikimedia Commons
Hat tip to Canada’s Massey Report (1951), which used this quote 14 years earlier.