WASHINGTON – Organizers and the Kennedy Center have cancelled a week’s worth of event celebrating LGBTQ+ rights at the World Pride Festival this summer in Washington, DC.
Several artists and producers involved in the center’s PRIDE schedule, which was planned from June 5th to 8th, told The Associated Press that their events were quietly cancelled or moved to other venues. And in the wake of the cancellation, Washington’s Capital Privacy Alliance separated itself from the Kennedy Center.
“We are a resilient community and we have found other ways to celebrate,” said June Crenshaw, deputy director of the alliance. “We’re finding another path to celebration…but the fact that we have to manipulate this way is a shame.”
The Kennedy Center website remains listed Pride tapestry on that website General descriptions and links to the World Pride Site. There are no other details.
The Kennedy Center did not respond to requests from the AP for comments.
The move comes shortly after a major change at the Kennedy Center, when President Donald Trump fired both the president and the chairman in early February. Trump replaced most of the board with loyalists, and he elected him the new Kennedy Center president.
Every two years, World Pride events start in less than a month. Performances and celebrations are planned in the capital from May 17th to June 8th. However, comments on the Trump administration’s policies on trans rights and the Kennedy Center’s drug performance sparked concerns about what reception participants would receive.
“I know DC as a community is very excited to host world pride, but I know that the community is a little different to government,” says Michael Roest, founder and director of the International Pride Orchestra, which took place on June 5th at the Kennedy Center within days of Trump’s acquisition.
Roest told the Associated Press that it is in the final stages of planning a Kennedy Center performance after months of email and Zoom calls. He was waiting for a final contract when Trump was Posted on social media Leadership February 7th changed his intentions to transform Kennedy Center programming.
Soon the Kennedy Center stopped responding, Roest said. On February 12, he said he received a one-sentence email from a staff member at the Kennedy Center saying he “cannot proceed with the contract at this time.”
“They were so enthusiastic about trying to hold their host,” he said. “We’ve never heard anyone from Kennedy Center since then, but that’s not going to stop us.”
The cancellation prompted Loest said he was able to drive the international Pride Orchestra performance at Strathmore Theatre in Bethesda, near Bethesda, Maryland.
Crenshaw said other events will move to Chinatown’s World Pride Welcome Centre, including Drug Story Time and some exhibits of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Monica Alford, a veteran event planner with a long history of working with the Kennedy Center, said she was scheduled to hold the event as part of the Tapestry of Pride on June 8th, but she saw communication suddenly end within days of Trump’s acquisition.
Alford organized First time drag branch On the rooftop of the 2024 Kennedy Center, she said she viewed the facility and its recent expansion known as Reach as “my home base” and “a safe space for the queer community.”
She said she still has finalized details of the event. She said, “It’s meant to be family friendly, just like the drug brunch is family-friendly, classy and refined.”
She said she lamented the loss of the partnership she raised with the Kennedy Center.
“We put our community at a disadvantage. We’re not just a queer community, but the community as a whole,” she said.
Roest said he has never been explained why the performance was cancelled during the planning stage. He says his orchestra will no longer consider performing at the Kennedy Center, and believes that most queer artists will make the same choice.
“To take that into consideration, there will need to be very, very, very formal inclusiveness from the administration, its committee,” he said. “If not, it’s a hostile performance space.”
