President Donald Trump tried to wash his hands of the “massive deficit” that is affecting the historical cultural institution that he tried to change its name.
Trump, 79, has passed the blame for sagging sales at the Kennedy Center.
“People don’t realize that The Trump Kennedy Center suffered huge deficits for many years and, like everything else, I just stepped in to save it and, if possible, make it much better than ever!” he wrote in a Social Truth post on Monday.
President Donald Trump distanced himself from the declining sales at the Kennedy Center. / Donald Trump on Social Truth
The once-revered arts institution has struggled to sell tickets since Trump revamped it in his appearance in February.
In October, nearly nine months after Trump’s inauguration, a Washington Post analysis of ticket data found that sales for the three largest performance venues at the Kennedy Center—the Opera House, the Concert Hall, and the Eisenhower Theater—were the worst they had been in three years.
Data from Sept. 3 to Oct. 19 of last year showed that only 57 percent of tickets had been sold for the typical production, including “comps” or tickets given to staff or press, compared to 93 percent in the fall of 2024 and 80 percent in the fall of 2023, according to the outlet.
Trump renamed the cultural institution after himself without congressional approval. / Anadolu / Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
This is thanks in large part to the renowned artists and performance groups who pulled out of scheduled performances—many in protest against the MAGAfication of the Kennedy Center. This month alone, the center has been hit with a large number of cancellations.
Grammy-winning soprano Renée Fleming pulled out last week because of what the center described as a “scheduling conflict.” The Martha Graham Dance Company, the oldest such group in the United States, also canceled its April show without providing an explanation. The Washington National Opera likewise ended its five-decade residency at the Kennedy Center earlier this month.
But Trump’s claim that the Kennedy Center “suffered huge deficits for many years” was disputed by former employees at the institution.
Donna Arduin, the Kennedy Center’s new chief financial officer, claimed in an email to staff in March that the organization was struggling with a $100 million deficit. But the employees told the Post that the figure was not accurate.
“The statement that we have an operating deficit of more than $100 million is inaccurate,” an employee with direct knowledge of the center’s finances told the outlet. “Our audited FY23 financial statements, which are publicly available through ProPublica, show that this figure excludes essential nonprofit revenue streams such as contributions, grants, and endowment support.”
The staff added: “Non-profit organizations are designed to rely on philanthropic and institutional support to carry out their mission. Using a ‘earned revenue minus expenses’ framework oversimplifies the picture and applies a for-profit lens that does not reflect how non-profit business models work.”
In December, the Trump-appointed board announced it would name the venue the Trump-Kennedy Center despite needing congressional approval to do so.