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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Richard Luscombe

Kennedy Center ticket sales take a nosedive after Trump takeover

a man in a suit smiles while holding the hand of a woman in a black dress next to a wall that reads 'the Kennedy center'
Donald and Melania Trump attend the opening of Les Misérables at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC 11 June 2025. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Reuters

Ticket sales at the Kennedy Center have continued to plummet following Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington DC’s premier performing arts venue, with the prestigious Stuttgart Ballet expected to dance next month to houses less than 20% full.

Audiences are “voting with their feet to skip out” on shows that would once have been packed, in protest at the US president inserting himself into the center’s management and operations as its new chairman, amid discussions around the notion of renaming it after Trump, according to an analysis by the Washingtonian magazine.

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