The Washington National Opera is leaving its longtime home at the newly renamed Trump Kennedy Center after more than five decades, citing financial strain and artistic clashes following Donald Trump’s takeover of the venue, The New York Times reported.
The opera’s board of trustees voted Friday to seek an early termination of its affiliation agreement with the Kennedy Center and resume operations as an independent nonprofit. The opera’s decision follows a year of declining ticket sales, shrinking donor support, and artists boycotting the center in protest of Trump’s policies. Recent cancellations include Grammy-winning banjoist Béla Fleck and Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz.
“I am deeply saddened to leave the Kennedy Center,” Francesca Zambello, the opera’s artistic director for 14 years, said in a statement shared with The Times. “I have been proud to be affiliated with a national monument to the human spirit.”
Newsweek has reached out to the Trump Kennedy Center via email on Friday night for comment.
Trump, early in his second term, named himself chairman of the Kennedy Center and installed political ally Richard Grenell as executive director, while filling the board with supporters.
Grenell has since pushed for sweeping changes, including requiring all productions to be revenue neutral, banning certain performances he labeled “anti-American propaganda,” and ordering concerts to open with the national anthem, The Times reported.
Last month, Grenell sharply criticized a musician for canceling a Christmas Eve performance at the venue after the White House announced that Trump’s name would be added to the building. He accused musician Chuck Redd of political intolerance in a letter responding to the sudden withdrawal, which Grenell said came just days before the scheduled free concert. The letter, shared with The Associated Press, said the cancellation was explicitly tied to the recent renaming of the facility, which Grenell described as honoring Trump’s efforts to preserve the arts institution.
In a November interview with The Guardian, Zambello warned the opera might leave the Kennedy Center, saying Trump administration policies had “shattered” donor confidence and caused a 40% drop in ticket revenue. “If we cannot raise enough money, or sell enough tickets in there, we have to consider other options,” she said. After her comments sparked backlash, Zambello and other leaders reaffirmed their commitment to stay. Since then, officials said, conditions have only worsened.
The resolution calls for the company to vacate the Kennedy Center’s 2,364-seat Opera House, where it has performed since 1971, and reduce its schedule as a cost-saving measure. Officials said new venues in Washington have been identified, though leases have not been signed. Negotiations with Grenell over the affiliation agreement — which dates to 2011 — are expected to be contentious, particularly regarding control of the opera’s $30 million endowment, The Times reported.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
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