The San Francisco Ballet is the latest performance outfit to declare they will cancel their scheduled shows at the Kennedy Center since Trump bastardized the place, added his name to it, and declared himself its chairman.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve been paying attention to the ways that President Trump has been trying to name everything after himself<\/a> and directly steal from US taxpayers<\/a>, you\u2019ve probably been following his fairly hostile takeover of Washington DC\u2019s storied John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Not only has Trump slapped his own name on the place (which is being challenged in court<\/a>), he made the widely inappropriate move of installing himself as chair of the organization, and rammed in a team of his own hand-picked lickspittles as the new board of directors.<\/p>\n A lengthy list of performers have canceled their scheduled shows there<\/a>, including a Hamilton production, Issa Rae, Philip Glass, and soprano Ren\u00e9e Fleming. A Saturday New York Times report noted that “ticket sales have fallen and dozens of employees have resigned or been fired” at the Center since Trump made his changes.<\/p>\n But one local San Francisco troupe has been getting some side-eye from the arts community for sticking with their scheduled Kennedy Center commitment, as the SF Ballet has appeared to be keeping their commitment to perform there<\/a>. They had a five-day set of shows starting May 27 to perform \u201cMere Mortals\u201d (which they\u2019re still performing elsewhere in Europe<\/a>). SF Ballet patrons had started an online petition urging a cancellation<\/a> that hit 7,000 signatures.<\/p>\n The New York Times reported Saturday that the SF Ballet has indeed now canceled their Kennedy Center performances<\/a> after recent reconsideration by their board of trustees.<\/p>\n The ballet company said in a statement to the Times that \u201cSF Ballet looks forward to performing for Washington, DC, audiences in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Trump\u2019s self-installed new toady Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell has complained of previous cancellations that \u201cProfessional artists should perform for everyone \u2014 not just for people they agree with politically.\u201d<\/p>\n While many performers have canceled their Kennedy Center shows, the stodgier-audience category of ballet companies has generally been keeping those dates intact. Per the Times, the American Ballet Theater honored their performance dates earlier this year, and the New York City Ballet has not (yet?) backed out of their scheduled performances this spring.<\/p>\n But the Trump-ified Kennedy Center is canceling performances themselves, too. Trump announced a few weeks back that he\u2019s shutting the center down for a supposed two-year “renovation,” which we suppose allows everyone to save face. Though we do worry about how much the place will look like a garish casino after these so-called renovations are complete.<\/p>\n