Kennedy Center Bans Concert

[Todd]

I don't recall you mentioning anyone re that.

I rarely buy art given space and budget constraints.  It has been a couple years since I last bought a painting or sculpture or other artwork.

I'm done with this.

I have doubts, but time will tell.

[owlice]

What's the word for that?

"Toddler" comes to mind...

[arpeggio]

I suspected that something like this would happen:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/washington-national-opera-may-move-out-of-kennedy-center-due-to-trump-takeover/ar-AA1Q1tgi?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=DCTS&cvid=690e656e3c07474eb6f31f362a2fed14&ei=26

[owlice]

The Kennedy Center Crackup
A Trumpian drama has been playing out inside the performing arts center all year. It has been damaging for business.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/us/politics/the-kennedy-center-crackup.html

Interviews with 25 people, including current and former Kennedy Center executives, board members, longtime employees, recent hires, industry leaders and Trump administration officials, revealed a Washington institution in crisis.

Audiences are staying away. Internal sales figures obtained by The New York Times showed ticket sales down by about 50 percent from the same period last year during one typical week in October. Dozens of employees, many with decades of experience, have been fired or quit. Outsiders with few obvious qualifications aside from party loyalty were handed top jobs.

Many issues with those recently installed to run the Kennedy Center, which, given that they have no relevant experience and no idea what they are doing, is not surprising.

[Kalevala]

I rarely buy art given space and budget constraints.  It has been a couple years since I last bought a painting or sculpture or other artwork.

So, whose artwork do you like and have bought?  And yes, I can appreciate dealing with budgets; we all have to face that.

K

[owlice]

I suspected that something like this would happen:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/washington-national-opera-may-move-out-of-kennedy-center-due-to-trump-takeover/ar-AA1Q1tgi?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=DCTS&cvid=690e656e3c07474eb6f31f362a2fed14&ei=26

Wow.

Not a lot of other venues to choose from, unfortunately. The Opera may have to move out of DC.

Clarice Smith has excellent acoustics, but its largest venue, the concert hall with just under 1K seats, is much smaller than the 2300+ seat Opera House. Strathmore's largest hall is about 400 seats short of the Opera House's capacity. (Also a lovely hall, though, with all the excellent acoustics and nosebleed feel of the NY Met for the seats in the back. )

I don't know what might be possible across the river.

[Kalevala]

The Kennedy Center Crackup
A Trumpian drama has been playing out inside the performing arts center all year. It has been damaging for business.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/us/politics/the-kennedy-center-crackup.html
Many issues with those recently installed to run the Kennedy Center, which, given that they have no relevant experience and no idea what they are doing, is not surprising.

Owlice, did you take the photo of your avatar?

K

[arpeggio]

The Virginia Opera stages productions at the George Mason Center of the Arts.  On November 22 and 23 they are staging a production of Rossini's La Cenerentola.  It has a seating capacity of 1935.

[owlice]

Owlice, did you take the photo of your avatar?

K

No, my son did, when he was 10. We were at the Carolina Raptor Center; he was using a small video camera I'd gotten somewhere/for some reason (don't recall why now; this was over 20 years ago). I pulled that frame from the video and have used it as an avatar ever since. I love the shot, and of course I think of him and his 10-year-old self when I see it. He was not particularly happy to be visiting the Raptor Center, but once I handed him a camera, he was fully engaged in using it.

[owlice]

The Virginia Opera stages productions at the George Mason Center of the Arts.  On November 22 and 23 they are staging a production of Rossini's La Cenerentola.  It has a seating capacity of 1935.

So about the same capacity as Strathmore; Warner is about that large, too.