BOMBSHELL: The Kennedy Center Isn’t Closed For “Renovations”—It’s Bankrupt!

0:00 Hey everybody, welcome back to the Bull Work. Uh my name is Sunny Bunch. I'm culture editor at the Bullwork and I'm very pleased to be joined today by Joseph Polarmo. We're going to be talking about a piece he wrote in the Atlantic about the collapse of the Kennedy Center. You saw this from the inside and it's a it's a story that's near and dear to my heart as again the culture editor. I spent a fair amount of time at the Kennedy Center just going to events frankly just going to enjoy the performances and the art and everything that is there. Um, and it was it has been distressing to watch it, you know, kind of uh get get pulled down from the inside um by by this current Trump administration. Uh, Joseph, thanks for thanks for being on today. >> Thank you for having me. >> So, I uh I want I want to talk about this piece because uh first, can you just just let folks know how you got

0:45 involved with the Kennedy Center because you were not there uh before the new administration. You actually kind of pitched yourself to Rick Rennell. How did that come about? >> Yeah, sure. Absolutely. So, um I had been working with a different nonprofit on a project that we were putting together for America's 250th anniversary this year for the National Mall. Um the foundation that was uh financing the project um in March of last year decided to withdraw their funding. Uh it was just sort of a reassessment of their funding priorities in the wake of the election results in 2024. Um, so around that time, uh, I saw that, uh, you know, Rick Rennell, uh, had become head of the Kennedy Center and, uh, I just figured I would, you know, reach out. I had been developing this project for about a

1:32 year, year and a half at that point. Um, and so I, you know, wanted to to produce the project nonetheless, and I reached out to see if if they might be interested at the Kennedy Center in hosting it as part of their own 200 America 250th, uh, celebrations. And you know, one of the things that you you mentioned early on is you're not a Trump guy. You're not a MAGA guy. Um you you know, you were you kind of pitched yourself as, hey, look, I'm not you know, that's not that's not my world. And they were uh that they were maybe more interested as a result. >> It seemed that way. you know, I I pitched my project and at the end of the pitch meeting, I was told uh by by the deputy who I'd met with, um you know, they'd love to have my project, but they'd also love to have me because um Rick Grenell wanted to establish a visual arts program at the Kennedy Center to give visitors to the center

2:19 something to see and experience when they weren't there to uh to view a show. Um and so at the at the end of that meeting uh when he made that preliminary offer, I said to him, you know, I just need to be upfront with you. I don't want to waste your time. certainly don't want to waste mine. Um I've I've you know never voted for Donald Trump. I will probably never vote for anything Trump related. But um you know if you're serious about wanting my project and me um you know that's just what you need to know. >> I think this is important because you know um there are people you had you write about having a friend who called you a Nazi collaborator for for going going to work there. >> But you know at the same time and this is something that's going to maybe get me in trouble with my my readers, my listeners. I understand this impulse to want to protect the institution of the Kennedy Center even under Donald Trump,

3:06 right? You you can see the different there's a huge difference between how the Kennedy Center was treated in the first administration and the second administration here and everything seems to have kind of fallen apart the more Donald Trump inserted himself into the proceedings. >> Yeah, I mean that's correct. He, you know, he established himself as chairman of the board. He replaced David Rubenstein. Um and Donald Trump as chairman of the board was doing things that David Rubenstein would never. Um he Donald Trump was making these um you know just terrible comments about uh the art and artists who were there. He made edicts banning you know drag performances and he was just doing a lot of things that uh a typical chairman of the board shouldn't and wouldn't do. When you say shouldn't and wouldn't do,

3:52 let's I want to dive into this because it it it gets into some of the politicization of the institution itself. And uh specifically, I want to get into some of the fundraising stuff because the shift in fundraising strategies jumps out at me as particularly egregious and kind of in line with how the rest of his operation has worked over the last well for the first four years of the Trump administration. And now, you know, we're now, you know, a year and a half into the most recent one. It it seemed almost like a graft is the wrong word cuz it's probably not going directly in his pocket, but it definitely seemed like, hey, we're we're going to give us money and we'll give you things, which is, you know, not how an art center should work. >> I completely agree. And that was one of my earliest red flags was just the way

4:39 that they seem to be positioning the proximity to Donald Trump. Um that access and and the selling of it, if you will, for for donations to the Kennedy Center. Um it just seemed that's that's not my understanding of how we do things in the nonprofit arts sector at all. >> Well, let's talk about specifically some of the things at the Kennedy Center that uh that shifted and changed. I mean, you you have a you have a long section about um the treatment of the lounges. what happened there. >> They've been there since the center opened uh for over 50 years. Um they were gifts by different countries from around the world. Um it was everything from the Chinese lounge, the Israel lounge, there was a Russian lounge prior to the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Um there was the African room which was probably one of my favorites. That was u

5:25 something like 30 32 countries in Africa came together um to sponsor this lounge. So what that meant was these were um lounges that were when I say sponsored it was gifts of art that were in those spaces. There were funds that were given to the Kennedy Center to support them and they were tributes to cultural diplomacy which was part of the legacy of President John F. Kennedy. Um and so for many years through a succession of leaders at the Kennedy Center those lounges were retained for uh for those tributes to cultural diplomacy. But when Rick Grenell came in, he decided that he wanted to affix corporate names to them. He wanted to start selling them off to uh to individual donors to have their own naming uh put put on these lounges. And in my view, that's a desecration of

6:12 what those lounges represent and and the gifts that those lounges are to the American people by way of the Kennedy Center. There was one in particular that essentially they sold off the naming rights to a guy who was uh who was pardoned by Trump after getting convicted of corruption. What was that story all about? >> So yeah, that that's the now Cyber Jets Lounge. It's um just off the the box tier level of the opera house at the Kennedy Center. Um it's uh a space that um prior to being the Cyber Jets lounge was known as the CR that's the old Russian lounge by the way. So then after it was the Russian lounge, it became the circles lounge which is circles is a dedicated membership uh for for people who give recurring donations to the Kennedy Center.

6:57 >> So the Cyberjets Lounge came in. Um there was a Grenell deputy who was in charge of like brokering that deal. He brought in um this guy, I believe his name is Trevor Milton. Uh he's the CEO of the Cyber Jets company. Um and yeah, they they basically let uh this man and his wife um who I understand designed the the new space um they gutted it. Uh I actually have photos in my phone still um that show that the the lounge was gutted um and then they they redesigned it, renovated it to their own uh specifications. And um yeah uh it's it's it's really sad and I find it to be a travesty. >> There's another uh portion where you talk about uh paying for access to a lay

7:43 miz performance to sit you know in the presence of Donald Trump which again um you know is what what was it was some absurd amount of money to to sit in the box. What was it? >> It was $2 million. Um, and then I had been uh told that there were tickets on the orchestra level for $100,000 for the same performance. And the six figures was merely just a markup because Donald Trump happened to be in the room. >> It's wild. That's wild. Uh, and of course, you know, there's nothing that Donald Trump likes more than people paying to be in his presence. It's one of his his real kinks. Um, the uh let's let's talk about Rick Rennell himself because he is a fascinating figure. You know, he wanted to be Secretary of State. He didn't get that. He got kind of thrown the bone of the Kennedy

8:28 Center, but he didn't seem to really understand how to say uh program a year's worth of performances or to raise the money. That was his What was his leadership style like from your perspective? >> Well, from my perspective, he was never in the office to be a leader. Um he we only saw him on on weeks where there were red carpet events. Um uh and you know so he really delegated a lot of things to this executive team that he brought in who were all of his cronies from uh his various other uh endeavors. Um and none of them first of all had any arts experience, arts management experience. And it didn't seem to me that they had any particular personal affinities for the arts um outside of

9:14 celebrities and red carpets. Um and uh it was for me challenging working with them because I would try to present my projects and um you know try to to showcase the the artistic merit and why I think we should produce them and why I should have resources allocated to them. Um and I just went nowhere because these guys they didn't care. Um and and I think that goes back to the top. I don't think Rick Rell himself cared. Um there was I think uh somebody reported this maybe the Wall Street Journal. I don't recall off the top of my head, but they asked him, somebody asked him in an interview. Um, you know, what is it that that you uh like about the arts? And his response was was simply celebrities. >> And of course, the uh the Kennedy Center honors has now, you know, kind of

10:00 devolved into this weird thing that Donald Trump hosts, which is not a thing the president has done. the president would, you know, sometimes have come to the Kennedy Center honors and, you know, sit in the but actually MCing the event and, you know, choosing a bunch of people who are very clearly Trump supporters, it does not seem to be um in line historically with the the nature and the goal of that event and the Kennedy Center itself. >> Yeah. I mean, the honors was was honestly quite a mess. Um, I write in my piece for the Atlantic uh just what the scene was like uh before the uh ceremony actually started. They had people come early for uh security, you know, enhanced security procedures. And so the grand foyer outside of the opera house was just packed with people. So it was

10:46 getting very hot. Um you had people the bars were set up for the reception after the ceremony, but they didn't allow people to have water from these bars. And so, uh, it just became a very chaotic scene with, um, you know, people stealing beverages from from the bars or, um, you know, fighting with the catering staff to try to get something to drink. Um, and while they're wearing like tuxedos and ball gowns, it was it was pretty, uh, pretty pretty much a farce. Um, and then of course once we got into the ceremony, to your point, Donald Trump came out and and MCed the ceremony. Um and I think again started to politicize uh what that ceremony actually is and and it's um you know yes the the president of the United States

11:31 the sitting president does attend that event but the president is never the focal point of that event. It's the honores who are being celebrated for their contributions to the American arts. Um and so yeah I I just I felt that the the honor ceremony was was a bit of a joke itself. the president was never the focal point and that is that is the real frustration I think a lot of folks have certainly this time around compared to the first I mean this is at the at the Kennedy Center honors right this is where he kind of floated the idea of ah maybe I'll put Trump on Trump on the name on the building I'll put my name on the building you know I've got so many hotels what it seems to do which is insane that's an insane thing to suggest and then to do >> yeah that's correct that was that was the first time we heard it from him him himself uh saying that yeah

12:18 >> I have to So, I don't know how much insight you have into this. You don't you don't get into this in your piece. Maybe maybe this was uh you know, other other but was that something that Rick Rennell heard and was like, "Oh, you know what? That's actually a good way to get in even better with Donald Trump or was I like or was or was it, you know, did this come from Trump himself? Was he like, "Actually, I wasn't joking. I really want to have my name on the front of the building." Like, I this this whole thing is so insane to me that I I cannot stop fixating on it. >> Yeah. Um, it's been my understanding and what I was told that, um, you know, Donald Trump actually did not explicitly request to have his name added to the center. Um, and that that was something that that Rick did, um, as a sick offendant, quite honestly. Um, I was

13:03 told that that he did that to to give Melania, uh, Miss Mrs. Trump uh you know the name of the building as she walked into it for her film premiere uh you know several weeks later. >> As I joked at the time, how did they get the venue for that premiere? It was a you know a real it was a real mystery. >> How did FIFA get that venue? How did uh CPAC get that venue? How did News Nation get that venue? That's that's all good questions. >> Yeah. Uh it's a real it's such a it's such a ridiculous uh mess um and just corrupt nonsense. one episode in particular that jumped out at me as particularly gling, which was Grenell's effort to fund raise off the back of an October 7th uh memorial. What What happened there? >> Yeah. Um so I we had received outside

13:51 funding um to to to host an exhibition of art um that commemorated the October 7th attack. Um, and uh, I I found an American Israeli artist whose son was actually at the Nova Festival um, when it was attacked. And you know, thank God his son survived. Um, but nonetheless, this artist had painted a series of work that um, really sort of characterized his experiences of that day. Um, and so we hosted this opening reception um, to welcome people into the space and to see the work for the first time. And you know, there were opening remarks as part of this. Um, and Rick Grenell, uh, he used his time to essentially wag a finger at all of the people that were

14:37 assembled in attendance. And, um, you know, let it be known that he's selling off lounges. And if the people in this room wanted this particular space to remain the Israeli lounge, then they needed to pony up the money to do so. Um and quite honestly I was disgusted. I was offended. Um you know and this I felt that this was not at all the time or the place to to be conducting such a strong armed uh fundraising pitch. >> The I I mean it's it's grotesque. Um it's grotesque. Uh the the you know the the that I I I almost I'm just speechless. Um let's let's skip let's skip ahead to the end because the end is uh is pretty

15:24 interesting here in terms of what is happening now at the Kennedy Center. So a few months back Donald Trump comes out and he says puts out a release and says we're shutting down the Kennedy Center for 2 years after July 4th to celebrate the ces cesqua centennial. We're going to reopen. It's going to be the finest performing arts facility in the world. It needs massive renovations. And everyone Yeah. Well, the few people I have talked to have said yes. There are renovations that need to be done. There's no need to shut the whole thing down. The reason they're shutting the whole thing down is because they could not book programming for a year's worth of shows. They could not book the symphony. They could not book the the opera has left. Um the the traveling uh stage performances don't want to come here. So, was this is this a shutdown to

16:11 repair the building or is it a shutdown because they simply couldn't put a show on? Ostensibly, we're told, the American people are being told that um it's being closed for renovations. And um you know, objectively, I can tell you there are things that do need to be repaired, replaced, um you know, renovated within the the Kennedy Center. However, all of those things are back of the house. They're underneath the theaters, which is uh where the production crews um you know, that's their space to come and and do the work that they do. Um or it's things like the leaking roof. um it's not really anything that is you know public facing. We believe many of us from the inside um especially myself that it's the closure is actually due to declining finances if not mere

16:58 bankruptcy of the Kennedy Center. Um, you know, Rick in all of his public comments, uh, that weren't bashing previous leadership, he would he would give this figure of $130 million again and again and again and saying, you know, we've raised $130 million under me. Um, and I think that's dubious. Um, you know, colleagues of mine on the development team have told me that, you know, that money just isn't there. $130 million just doesn't exist. And so, we've been hearing whispers. uh we the staff had been hearing whispers. It reached me as late as as early rather as August of last year that the CFO was actually proposing that the Kennedy Center close uh under the guise of renovations as a way to cover the the

17:45 lack of finances and that the reason why we had been hearing this in August um is that she wanted to close it at the end of September because October 1st would have been the start of the next fiscal year. Um, moving ahead to my layoff along with others on March 26th, I believe we were laid off then because the following week was April 1st, the start of the next fiscal quarter. Um, and they did not want to carry over the the overhead costs of of staff. Um, and so I firmly believe that that they have bankrupted the Kennedy Center and and they includes Donald Trump as chairman of the board. You know, going back to referencing David Rubenstein, when he was the chairman of the board, he used to actually write checks at the end of the year. They would go to him and say, "This is what we're missing." And he

18:31 would write a check to cover it. Um, you know, the chairman of of any nonprofit board has fidiciary duties. And um, you know, so I believe that Donald Trump was made aware that that the Kennedy Center does not have the finances. And based on that, he he decided to take the CFO's uh proposal to close the center for the cover of renovations. >> Well, we wouldn't want Donald Trump to have to cut a check like David Rubenstein. That would that you know, that wouldn't that wouldn't be good for anyone. Joseph, thank you for being on today. And you can you should read his piece at the Atlantic. You know, we'll link to it. Um and you should check it out, but it's it's really interesting. It's damning if you care at all about the the state of the arts in Washington DC. It's it's a it's an important piece

19:17 to read. Um uh I was there a couple months back to to kind of do some on the ground reporting of the the last days just from a audience's perspective and it was uh it was pretty it was pretty upsetting. People there were you know just kind of baffled by what was going on. So it's uh it's bad all around. Um but I'm sure it'll be back and better than ever in in two years, you know, renovated and ready to go. >> Well, I I certainly hope so. And I I certainly hope that, you know, and a big reason why I'm coming forward is because I really want to to call upon the American people and the Congress to to really create some sort of firewall so that we can never again have this kind of political takeover from either side, left or right, of the of the Kennedy Center. I firmly believe that our public arts institutions need to remain nonpartisan. Um and and I hope that when

20:04 the Kennedy Center reopens that we will have achieved this. >> Fingers crossed. Who are you working with? You uh you mentioned a senator at the end of your piece. Who are you working with to get that done? >> Senator Sheldon White House is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, which has um jurisdictional oversight over the Kennedy Center. Um and there has been an ongoing investigation for several months that his team have been engaged in. Um and on April 1st was when I had my first meeting with them uh to come forward as a whistleblower. I gave them all the information that I have. >> Uh Joseph, thanks again for being on. Thank you for caring about this. >> And uh again, make sure you make sure you like, subscribe, share this with with lovers of the arts. If you know somebody who is, you know, outraged by what they see going on, if you find it

20:50 ridiculous that Donald Trump is out there parading around at the Kennedy Center Honors, you know, leading leading the show, uh send this to a friend. I I'm sure they'll appreciate it. I know I will appreciate it and Joseph will, and so will everybody who loves the Kennedy Center. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Click click like and subscribe. We'll we'll see you guys next time.