ticket sales for kennedy center The decline has continued in the months since President Trump took over its operation,
Thousands of seats have been left empty at the three main protest sites, according to Washington Post,
About 43 percent of tickets remained unsold, according to the Post’s daily analysis of the Kennedy Center’s opera house, concert hall and Eisenhower Theater from September 3 to October 19.
The outlet said the center was losing nearly $1 million in revenue after 45 days of the show season. countless artists canceled or refused to perform there subject to Trump administration control,
Trump ally Richard Grenell appointed interim president The cultural center official said staff on site are “excited” and alleging that staff are “dying for change.” Demonstrations of Christian artists have been stepped up in an effort to bring out what the administration sees as “woke” art works.
“They needed to have a different focus on programming that wasn’t there until now,” Grenell said during a recent radio interview. WMAL,
He added, “What we know about arts institutions across the country is that they’re all struggling to put people in seats and I believe it’s because arts institutions have become so obsessed with their programming. “They’re not giving people what they want.”
Grenell also said “Les MiserablesThe performance served as a draw for visitors, with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Stuttgart Ballet returning to the stage for the first time in decades as strong points for the programming.
“We’re doing big things that people want to see. And I’ll tell you, from last Saturday night, when we did the big Kennedy Center celebration in honor of the National Symphony, 50 percent of the people coming to the festival were never giving to the Kennedy Center, had never been to a festival,” Grenell said in early October.
“We’re seeing a big change because people are recognizing that they want to be a part of something that is common sense programming,” he said.
However, his comments contradict a report by the Post that ticket sales were down 36 percent compared to this time last year. The outlet also cited audience adjustments as a sign of patrons Freedom From the Kennedy Center.
According to the Post, the “Parade” musical was moved from the 2,364-seat Opera House to the 1,161-seat Eisenhower Theater and 43 percent of the seats were available. The National Symphony Orchestra’s “An Evening of Beethoven” had more than 2,000 seats available on the day of all three shows, the outlet reported.
“Declines in ticket sales not only cause decreased revenues; they also bode adversely for future fundraising revenues,” former Kennedy Center president Michael Kaiser wrote in an email to the Post after reviewing the outlet’s findings.
“The majority of donors are ticket buyers who are eager to enhance their relationship with the organization by making a contribution in addition to paying for their tickets,” he said. “By the time I left the Center in 2014, we had 40,000 generous individual donors. The money we received from these individuals laid the foundation for all of our accomplishments.”
According to the Post, a former employee of the performing arts center said the decline in ticket sales was “shocking.”
“These numbers are more dire than they appear, as they do not account for productions canceled or shows moved to smaller theaters due to weak ticket sales,” the person said in a statement, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fear of retribution.
The Kennedy Center did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment on ticket sales.
