Last week, the Kennedy Center's new leadership, recently appointed by President Trump, laid off at least five employees working on its social impact team, including its artistic director: poet, playwright and actor, Marc Bamuthi Joseph. References to the team's work, which included attracting young, new and diverse audiences to the center, have been scrubbed from the center's website.
The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request for comment from The Times, but in an interview with the Washington Reporter, the center's president, Ric Grenell, said, "What the heck is the Kennedy Center doing funding a group called 'Social Impact' when we have $0 in the bank and $0 in reserve?" (Trump originally made Grenell interim executive director, but now the website lists him as president.)
I'd argue that the reason might have gone beyond a commitment to equity, diversity and social justice. It might have been an investment in the future of art forms championed by the center — such as classical music and opera— that have long seen a decline in new audiences and were becoming known for attracting older white crowds.
Leaders of arts organizations across the country have watched this trend with concern for decades and have been making concerted efforts to attract young, diverse audiences. The goal is not to make the older white crowds feel unwelcome but to ensure a robust future for art forms that will need new audiences to remain viable in the future.
After all, dwindling audiences mean more empty seats and less revenue. This is happening at a time when the cost of operating an orchestra, including paying staff, management and musicians, is only increasing. Without fresh faces, cutbacks in staff and programming could become inevitable.
By enlarging the tent and making traditionally refined and staid art forms fresher and more experimental, leading arts organizations, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with its Green Umbrella new music series, and L.A.'s avant-garde opera company, the Industry, have raised the profile of classical music and created a landscape where some of the most daring and exciting new work is being done.
And the effort is paying off. According to a 2022 study by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, people under 35 are more likely to listen to classical music as part of their daily lives than their parents. A follow-up study showed interest in attending orchestral concerts also peaking.
The Washington Post reported that the Kennedy Center's social impact team also spearheaded an effort to commission new works by Black composers and librettists. This work touches on another reason why encouraging young, diverse audiences to commit to classical music has been so urgent. A depletion in audiences has also been blamed on a lack of diversity within orchestras themselves.
A 2023 report by the League of American Orchestras found that Black, Latino and Indigenous American representation is "significantly lower among orchestra musicians than in the U.S. population overall." It also found that "fewer than one in four conductors, including assistant conductors and music directors, are women."
The Kennedy Center's social impact team was seeking to address these issues with its work, and through the programming of the center's Millennium Stage, which features free shows including plenty of world music, diverse dance troupes and orchestral performances by the National Symphony Orchestra's youth fellows.
Grenell told the Washington Reporter that eliminating "DEI-aligned programs" at the center will save $2,530,000 every year. I would counter that the work those programs sought to do when it came to cultivating new music and culture lovers — the kind that buy tickets, become subscribers and bring their families to shows — was priceless.
I'm arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, looking to expand my horizons by attending a live show not previously on my radar. Ashley Lee and I are here with your biweekly arts news roundup.
Best bets: On our radar this week
American Ballet Theatre's production of "The Winter's Tale." (Tristram Kenton)
American Ballet Theatre
Director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon's ballet take on William Shakespeare's classic "The Winter's Tale" has been delighting audiences globally for more than a decade. The adaptation is now coming to California via an American Ballet Theatre premiere, featuring music by Joby Talbot and accompaniment by the Pacific Symphony. Keep an eye out for standout silk effects designed by puppetry visionary Basil Twist. The five-performance run starts Thursday and continues through Sunday. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scfta.org
'Pyro: How to Blow Up a Life'
Khanisha Foster's newest play centers on a woman who, after dropping everything to help her husband run the family business, learns he's been cheating on her for years and chooses to embark on a journey of self-discovery. The one-night-only reading of the romp, presented as part of Chance Theater's On The Radar New Works Program, is directed by Sasha Nicolle Smith and stars Tristan Cunningham, Kathleen Littlefield and Josh Schell. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Chance Theater, 5522 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim. chancetheater.com
Kimsooja's "To Breathe – Coachella Valley" installation at Desert X. (Lance Gerber)
Kimsooja and Kapwani Kiwanga
Bookmark these two newly unveiled large-scale installations for your next trip to Desert X: in Desert Hot Springs, Kimsooja's "To Breathe — Coachella Valley" is composed of glass surfaces wrapped in a unique optical film and is inspired by bottari, the traditional Korean fabric bundle that's prominent in her work. And next to the Palm Springs Visitor Center, Kapwani Kiwanga's "Plotting Rest" reflects on the region's iconic midcentury design via a pavilion-like structure inspired by the "flying geese" quilting motif. These two outdoor works remain on view through June 11. desertx.org
— Ashley Lee
The week ahead: A curated calendar
Gael García Bernal in Alejandro González Iñárritu's 2000 feature debut "Amores Perros," screening Wednesday at the Academy Museum. (Rodrigo Prieto / Lionsgate)
MONDAY
😂 The Bergamot Comedy Festival
A weeklong event featuring more than 50 comedians.
Through April 5. The Crow at Bergamot Station Arts Center, 2525 Michigan Ave., Unit F4, Santa Monica. bergamotcomedyfest.com
TUESDAY
🎨 Marta Chaffee
The Los Angeles artist's new collection, "Grasses," reflects on time, light and nature in soft pencil drawings.
Open by appointment, through April 27. Gallery169, 169 W. Channel Road, Santa Monica. gallery169.com/
🎨 Zipora Fried
"Trust Me, Be Careful, I Like Your Shoes," featuring large works on paper, new intimately scaled drawings, ceramic sculptures and a monumental hanging drawing, is the artist's first solo exhibition in L.A.
11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, through May 3. Sean Kelly, 1357 N. Highland Ave. skny.com
🎞️ International Beverly Hills Film Festival
The annual event marks its silver anniversary with screenings, panels and discussions, industry events and an awards gala at the Beverly Hilton.
Through April 6. TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, 6925 Hollywood Blvd., beverlyhillsfilmfestival.com
🖼️ Jim Jarmusch
The indie filmmaker's first L.A. solo exhibition, "some more collages," features his work with hand-torn newsprint.
10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. James Fuentes, 5015 Melrose Ave. jamesfuentes.com
🎤 Corinne Bailey Rae
The British R&B singer and composer performs on her Black Rainbows tour.
7 p.m. Tuesday. House of Blues Anaheim, 400 W. Disney Way, Suite 337; 9 p.m. Wednesday. The Orpheum, 842 S. Broadway, downtown L.A. corinnebaileyrae.com
🎸 Role Model
The indie-pop singer is not in Kansas anymore, he's at the Wiltern for two nights on the No Place Like tour.
7 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday. The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd. heyrolemodel.com
🎨 Brenna Youngblood
The exhibition "R.A..D...I..O" presents nine new paintings alongside earlier works in assemblage and photography as the artist explores American material culture.
11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, or by appointment, through May 10. Roberts Projects, 442 S. La Brea Ave. robertsprojectsla.com
WEDNESDAY
💃 Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
The troupe performs two programs of cutting-edge contemporary work and classics including Ailey's signature piece, "Revelations."
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, Program A; 2 p.m. Saturday. 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday, Program B. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. musiccenter.org
🎞️ Amores Perros
The Motion Picture Academy Museum cinematographers branch presents a 35mm screening of director Alejandro González Iñárritu's 2000 debut starring Gael García Bernal.
7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org
🎭 Pyro: How to Blow Up a Life
A reading of a new play by Khanisha Foster about a woman who launches on a romp of self-discovery after discovering her husband has been cheating on her for years.
7:30 p.m. Bette Aitken Theater Arts Center, 5522 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim. chancetheater.com
🎨 Scale Maps of the Ocean Floor
A group show featuring artists Linn Meyers, Jenene Nagy and Marc Pally.
Noon-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, through April 26. Timothy Hawkinson Gallery, 7424 Beverly Blvd. timothyhawkinsongallery.com/
THURSDAY
🎼 Andy Akiho Trio
The group performs original works by the Grammy-nominated and Pulitzer Prize finalist composer.
8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu
🎼 🎞️ John Williams Spotlight
Yo-Yo Ma joins conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Phil for the first two of four concerts celebrating the music of the noted film composer.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 8 p.m Saturday. 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Actors Darren Criss, from left, Dez Duron, Helen J Shen and Marcus Choi of the Broadway musical "Maybe Happy Ending," photographed at the Belasco Theatre in New York on March 20, 2025. (Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)
"Maybe Happy Ending" was a hit musical in Asia before heading to Broadway last November, where it premiered as this season's underdog. This was due to the fact that it was the only new show not based on true events or any other existing material, writes Ashley Lee in a story about the musical's journey to New York, and why its originality is making it an audience favorite. Read Lee's Q&A with the show's main players, including Marcus Choi, Helen J Shen, Dez Duron and Darren Criss.
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Artist Fred Eversley works in his Venice studio in 1970. (David Kordansky Gallery)
Fred Eversley, the engineer and artist best known for his devotion to the energetic possibilities of the parabola, died unexpectedly after a brief illness at home in New York on March 14, David Kordansky Gallery confirmed. He was 83. Eversley was born in Brooklyn in 1941 and and studied electrical engineering at Carnegie Mellon, where he was the only Black engineering student. He earned his degree in 1963 and moved to the Los Angeles area, where he worked for El Segundo's Wyle Laboratories. That work included designing and supervising the construction of acoustical testing laboratories for NASA's Gemini and Apollo programs. While living in Venice, Calif., Eversley immersed himself in the vibrant music and arts scene. There, he met artists including James Turrell, Robert Irwin, Larry Bell, John McCracken, De Wain Valentine, who — along with Eversley — became influential in the region's Light and Space movement. In 1967, Eversley left engineering to pursue art full time, learning to manipulate plastic and soon creating some of his trademark works of gravitationally spun cast parabolic sculptures. Today, Eversley's work resides in major museum collections, including Tate Modern, London; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Ark.; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
The National Museum and Library Services Board sent a letter to Keith E. Sonderling — the new Trump administration-appointed acting director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services — seeking to outline, "specific statutory mandates that cannot be paused, reduced, or eliminated without violating Congressional intent and federal statute." The board's letter came after the administration issued an executive order that threatened to reduce the IMLS to its minimum statutory functions, which was read as code for eliminating it as much as was legally possible. The letter argued that the functions that could not be done away with included grants to states for library services, Native American library services, the National Leadership Grants Program, state plan requirements and statutory disbursement of funds.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
Seven-year-old Lana knows how to get kids interested in music. Her "Ukelana" YouTube channel is tops.
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