Washington – The organizers and the Kennedy center have canceled the one -week events that celebrate the LGBTQ+ rights for the World Pride Festival this summer in Washington, DC, in the midst of a change in the priorities and the exhibition of leadership in one of the main cultural institutions of the nation.
Multiple artists and producers involved during the Tapestry of Pride schedule, which had been planned for June 5 to 8, told The Associated Press that their events had been canceled in silence or transferred to other places. And following the cancellations, the Washington capital pride alliance has dissociated from the Kennedy Center.
“We are a resistant community, and we have found other ways to celebrate,” said June Crenshaw, deputy director of the Alliance. “We are finding another way to the celebration … but the fact that we have to maneuver in this way is disappointing.”
The Kennedy Center website still lists Tapestry of Pride on its website with a general description and a link to the world pride site. There are no other details.
The Kennedy center did not respond to an AP request for comments.
The movement occurs immediately after the massive changes in the Kennedy Center, with President Donald Trump dismiss both the president and the president In early February. Trump replaced the majority of the Board with loyal, who chose him the new president of the Kennedy Center.
The World Pride event, held every two years, begins in a little less than a month, which extends from May 17 to June 8 with presentations and celebrations planned throughout the capital city. But Trump’s administration policies on transgender rights and comments on the drag actions of the Kennedy center have caused concern about what type of reception the attendees will receive.
“I know that DC as a community will be very excited to be the host of world pride, but I know that the community is a bit different from the government,” said Michael Rest, founder and director of the International Pride Orchestra, who had his performance on June 5 at the Kennedy center abruptly canceled within the days Trump’s acquisition.
Rest told AP that he was in the final stages to plan the performance of the Kennedy center after months of emails and zoom calls. I was waiting for a final contract when Trump Posted in Social Networks On February 7 of leadership changes and its intention to transform the programming of the Kennedy Center.
Immediately, the Kennedy center did not respond, Rest said. On February 12, he said, he received an email from a prayer from an employee of the Kennedy center who states: “We can no longer advance in his contract at this time.”
“They went from very anxious for hosts to nothing,” he said. “Since then, we have heard a word from anyone in the Kennedy center, but that will not stop us.”
Following the cancellation, Alest said he managed to transfer the performance of the International Pride Orchestra to the Strathmore Theater in the nearby Bethesda, Maryland.
Croww said that some other events, including an hour of drag stories and an exhibition of parts of the AIDS memorial, would move to the World Pride welcome center in Chinatown.
Monica Alford, a veteran event planner with a long history of working with the Kennedy Center, was scheduled to organize an event on June 8 as part of the Tapestry of Pride, but said she also saw that communication ended up abruptly within a few days of Trump’s acquisition.
Alford organized the First drag brunch On the roof of the Kennedy center in 2024, and said that he considered the institution, and its recent expansion known as the scope, as “my base of operations” and “a safe space for the queer community”
She said she was still finishing the details of her event, which she described as “aimed at being familiar, just like drag brunch was familiar and elegant and sophisticated.”
She said she cries the loss of the association she nurtured with the Kennedy center.
“We are doing bad service to our community, not only to the queer community but to the entire community,” he said.
Rest said he never received an explanation of why the performance was canceled so late in the planning stages. He said that his orchestra would no longer consider acting at the Kennedy center, and believes that most strange artists would make the same decision.
“There should be a very, very public statement to include the administration, of that Board, so that we can consider that,” he said. “Otherwise, it is a hostile performance space.”
