Washington DC—Activists staged a guerrilla light projection show on the rear parapet of the Kennedy Center, catching security guards by surprise on Wednesday night. The small group snuck their equipment along a bike trail next to the Potomac River and projected a series of still images above traffic on Rock Creek Parkway as rush-hour was underway. Thousands of motorists saw the projected lights as they passed under the outcrop section of the Kennedy Center which sets above the parkway like a giant ceiling over the outbound lanes of traffic.
A series of slides controlled by a computer, flashed through a sequence, pausing between slides. They depicted John F. Kennedy’s vision that the arts should be a celebration of the freedom of the human spirit and uninhibited in its creativity. Counter to that, a single slide showed Donald J. Trump’s viewpoint that the arts should be a tribute to himself.
One slide depicting John F. Kennedy was captioned with “Bold Art” and another depicted a ballerina dancing and captioned with “Fine Art.” Then a slide shows Donald Trump captioned with “Braggart.” The last slide depicts a photograph of an elevator platform outside the Memorial Center taken on the day Donald Trump’s name was added to the Kennedy Center. It is captioned with “Keep your tiny hands off our landmark.” (See video below).
Security officials photographed the activists from a different parapet above the road but there was little they could do to stop the light show as a heavy wave of rush-hour traffic and a barrier separated the guards from the activists below.
Kennedy Center Changed to Reflect Political Climate
In February 2025, Trump dismissed the Board of Trustees and appointed his own board of members close to him. He appointed himself the Kennedy Center Chairman. Then two months ago on December 19, the Trump appointed Board voted to commission a name change to the venerable Memorial and within a day workers added his name to the North Wall outside of the center above John F. Kennedy’s name. This was met with a sharp rebuke from across the arts community and a controversial reaction by many performing artists who canceled their commitments to performances they had earlier planned. Senator Schumer said the name change broke existing law, prohibiting a change to the name.
As more and more performing artists canceled and donations began drying up, attendance began dropping at the center. The Washington National Opera which held residence at the Kennedy Center for a half century, canceled its residency. Then on February 2, early this month, Trump announced that the Kennedy Center would undergo a two-year renovation beginning in July of this year. This was met with questions of just what that renovation would actually entail.
As it happened back in October of this year, a “renovation” of the White House East Wing was actually a complete demolition of the venerable landmark portion of the “People’s House.” The demolition took place despite Trump’s assurance that his ballroom plans would “not interfere” with the existing White House structure.
Would a “renovation” of the Kennedy Memorial Arts Center also result in its complete destruction akin to the destruction of the White House East Wing?
Activists Declined On The Record Statements
The activists declined to give their names because of increased political pressure over the disposition of the Kennedy Center and the possibility that fallout over resistance activities taken there could pursue them elsewhere. But they told DCMediaGroup their reasons for staging the light show had a lot to do with Trump’s imposing himself as the Kennedy Center master.
The designer of the slides said they couldn’t trust what Trump meant when he said the Kennedy Center would be renovated but “we would have to wait and see.” They also spoke to the symbolic meaning of the slides and its statement about how authoritarians regard the arts and artists. “When you attack the arts and insist that the arts are in your image it comes right out of the autocratic playbook. It signifies the times we’re living in and it demands a response.”
Another of the activists said they are coming up with “prominent ways to push back against the trampling of the constitution.”By taking over the arts center the government is in effect discouraging First Amendment rights to freedom of speech by suppressing freedom of expression. “We plan more actions in the future,” they said.
Are The Takeover and Renaming of the Kennedy Center Truly First Amendment Infringements
On Wednesday night outside the Kennedy Memorial Center For The Arts, special security guards dressed in dark blue suits with bright yellow vests walked around its North side and hung about on its parapets. Security outside the Kennedy Center was not required before.
On the inside things appeared as normal as they ever have been on a Wednesday night when there was no major performance scheduled.
No one inside seemed to realize there was artistic drama unfolding right outside the windows of Kennedy Center. There were only a handful of people in attendance of a free performance by the U.S. Naval Academy Band Chamber Players. At the end of their free performance they played a montage tribute of the hymns sung by each of the branches of the Armed Forces. Who knew that the Space Force had its own hymn?
Near the east side entrance an art display was being set up. Several children played and chased each other along the galloping red carpet in the concert hall. The red carpet extends the length of the promenade, which is long enough to suit the triumphant walks of a truckload of kings. There were no burned out lights in any of the giant hanging chandeliers hanging in the promenade. Incidentally there are 24 giant hanging chandeliers hanging from the ceiling of the promenade. Each chandelier has eight hanging rows. Each hanging row has eight light caverns. Each cavern has 16 bulbs. Thats a lot of bulbs to keep burning. None were out on Wednesday night.
Everything appeared normal at the Kennedy Center. But it didn’t feel normal. Soon the Kennedy Center would be closed—in four months—and what was likely to come in its wake no one could tell for sure. No one could trust that it would remain the Arts Center it once was.
The Kennedy Center has seen thousands of performances over the last 55 years it has been open to the public. In 1971 when it first opened to a black tie gala, many famous artists and actors from Hollywood and New York and attended the gala. They celebrated the great achievement of its construction which took nearly a decade. It was a who’s who moment in the arts community and was aired live on television. The opening was a big deal for the arts community for those times for it was the first time the arts were the center of the national consciousness.
Since then it has become a complex of displays and cultural centers as annexes, gardens, a bridge to the Potomac, and improvements have built its structure and its reputation into a thriving community for the arts. That was until now.
When the Kennedy Center goes under the wrecking ball in July as many are beginning to sense it will, another important institution will be extinguished from Washington DC. Individual charitable donations will likely continue to dwindle as well because there will be no performances incentivizing donors to contribute to the center.
As the grasp of an authoritarian reaches into the heart and soul of a republic to change it into their own image, the heart and soul of the republic longs to remain free so it does not and cannot remain. One never appreciates something they treasure, or even know they treasure it so much, until it is gone.
