Laura Bligh worked at the Kennedy Center three decades ago. Now retired, she has returned to the institution several times a week to protest President Donald Trump’s reshaping of the storied arts center.
Most days, Bligh has been the only protester outside the building. But Friday night, the crowd was a thousand times bigger.
“I am delighted because it helps show that the people in the D.C. area really love and care about the Kennedy Center. It’s very precious to us,” Bligh told The Washington Sun on Friday.
The demonstration came at a pivotal moment for the Kennedy Center, which closed Tuesday after its Trump-aligned board voted to shutter the venue for repairs — after which a federal judge ordered the administration to provide 30 days’ notice before any major renovations or demolition. Trump continued to bash the building as decrepit this week — and was photographed viewing potential demolition plans on Air Force One — while insisting his name needs to be permanently etched into the facade.
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“I’m ready to fix it, make it good,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on Friday afternoon. “The Kennedy Center, for 25 years, has lost a tremendous amount of money, and all I’m saying is, I don’t mind doing the job, but if I do the job, I think the Trump administration … the Trump administration should be recognized.”
“I’ll do a better job building it than anybody else, anybody in America,” Trump added.
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Friday evening’s protest, organized by Hands Off the Arts, had been planned for weeks but took on added significance after the closure. Organizers said they formed the group last year in response to firings and layoffs at the Kennedy Center.
The center saw another wave of layoffs that impacted more than a dozen employees on Friday, The Washington Post reported that evening, including top spokesperson Roma Daravi and board relations head Joe LaFauci.
Many attendees brought signs. Some dressed up in inflatable costumes, others brought instruments. Together, they advocated for reopening the Kennedy Center and reinstalling a bipartisan board of trustees that doesn’t include Trump as a chairman.
“Hands off the arts!” the crowd chanted as protesters wrapped around the front and sides of the building, eventually forming a human chain.
The demonstration drew several elected officials and public figures, including Robert White, the Democratic nominee for D.C.’s congressional delegate; Reps. Don Beyer (D-Virginia) and Jonathan Jackson (D-Illinois); Metropolitan Washington Council President Sam Epps and “Wonder Woman” actress Lynda Carter.
Mallory Miller, a co-founder of Hands Off the Arts who was fired from the Kennedy Center last August, said the institution represents an important part of American cultural life. Her comments echoed the broader concerns of protesters who oppose Trump’s involvement in the center.
“The Kennedy Center, to me, is our country’s highest form of self-expression,” Miller told The Sun. “It’s really meaningful, not just for Washingtonians, but for Americans. The fact that it’s closed right now is an abomination to our democracy.”
Trump began denouncing the institution’s programming in February 2025, saying the center didn’t need to be “woke” and criticizing some of its performances. He also said the center would no longer host “drag shows, or other anti-American propaganda.”
Tara Hoot, a drag performer who has participated in many Kennedy Center protests, said the size of Friday’s crowd showed growing attention to the dispute.
“It’s a presidential memorial and that, first and foremost, should send shock waves around America that the president is trying to slap his name above that of an assassinated president,” Hoot said.
Local musicians and performers also took part, including the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and the Rapid Response Choir. The evening ended with the crowd singing “America the Beautiful” outside the front of the institution.
Chris Raleigh, another Hands Off the Arts co-founder, told The Sun that the goal of the protest was to prevent Trump from “turning arts and culture on us for his authoritarian project.”
Raleigh gave Trump an ultimatum while speaking to a cheering crowd.
“We will come here again and again, with greater numbers, to embarrass you and show the world how badly you messed up,” Raleigh said.
“Or, Mr. President, you take my deal — bring back the bipartisan board that used to run this place. Bring back the professionals, everyone who used to work in this building,” he said. “Don’t lay a finger on JFK’s memorial. Open up the building and put art on the damn stages.”
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