SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
As another eventful week in Washington came to a close, key aspects of President Donald Trump's efforts to drastically reshape the U.S. government were put on hold by two federal courts. First, a U.S. district judge blocked an order to put thousands of USAID workers on leave. And then this morning, another federal judge blocked Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from accessing sensitive Treasury Department records.
With those efforts paused for now, President Trump moved to take over another federal institution. On Friday, he fired several board members at Washington D.C.'s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. And to the surprise of many in the arts world, Trump said he would name himself chairman. NPR's Bob Mondello is here in studio to help us make sense of what's happening. Hey, Bob.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Hey, good to be here.
DETROW: So first of all, the Kennedy Center is home to the National Symphony, the Washington Opera. It's a place to see Broadway touring companies. But this is also a national monument.
MONDELLO: Yes, a cultural center named for a president, situated in D.C. right at the edge of Rock Creek Park, which is maintained by the National Park Service, the center is a hybrid operation. The Park Service is responsible for keeping up the building, and Congress appropriates money for that. But what plays in the center is paid for by ticket revenue and private donations.
DETROW: When it began, was there anything like it in Washington?
MONDELLO: No. I'm a lifelong resident of D.C., so I'm allowed to say this. D.C. was a cultural backwater in 1955. When President Eisenhower first proposed building a national performing arts auditorium - singular - the city only had one large concert venue. The center filled a void, and it also changed the country's arts focus. It brought the Bolshoi Ballet and the La Scala opera to the U.S. for the first time. It inspired American artists, and President Kennedy talked about why that was important at a fundraiser for the center in 1962, when it was still sketches on a drawing board.
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JOHN F KENNEDY: Today, as always, art knows no national boundaries. Genius can speak in any tongue, and the entire world will hear it and listen.
DETROW: That's President Kennedy. Now let's talk about President Trump. Why does he say he's taking control?
MONDELLO: Well, he didn't say this, but he has a history with the center. In his first term, he skipped the Kennedy Center honors when some of the honorees didn't want to meet him for a reception at the White House. Beforehand, he skipped all four years, the first president ever to do that. But on Truth Social, he just says that he's firing the board chairman, Carlyle Invent - Carlyle Investment Group co-founder David Rubenstein, and other members who, quote, "do not share our vision for a golden age in arts and culture." He didn't specify who else he fired, but the membership includes singer Jonn Batiste and "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes.
DETROW: Any sense what this golden age is going to look like?
MONDELLO: Well, it will apparently not include crossdressing performers. His post on Truth Social claims that - and I'm quoting - "just last year, the Kennedy Center featured drag shows specifically targeting our youth. This will stop," end quote. Now, I looked back through last year's bookings, and there were a couple of drag brunches in the enter's restaurant, a lip-synced drag salute to divas in its free Millennium Stage, and comedian Kris Anderson's silly solo show, Dixie's Tupperware Party.
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KRIS ANDERSON: And I get it. I'm lucky. Not everybody can be like me and have both beauty and the other one. So I'm just really lucky to be able to be - and that's what I want to share.
DETROW: Did Trump say how this was, so-called, targeting youth?
MONDELLO: No, I think that's a mix-up, actually. Dixie's Tupperware Party played at the Kennedy Center's smallest auditorium, which is called the Family Theater because it only has 324 seats, and that makes it sound family-friendly compared to the 2,000 seat Opera House and Concert Hall. But it is just a name. I've caught lectures and films at the Family Theater, just as I've seen concerts and plays at the Opera House.
DETROW: That is NPR's Bob Mondello. Bob. Thank you so much.
MONDELLO: My pleasure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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