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   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   The Kennedy Center board of trustees voted Wednesday afternoon to install   
   President Donald Trump as chairman of the board, cementing the plan Trump   
   announced Friday to overhaul the storied arts institution with him at its   
   helm. It also voted to terminate Deborah Rutter as president and made   
   former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell interim   
   president, according to multiple people with knowledge of the meeting who   
   spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to   
   speak publicly.   
      
   Trump attended the virtual board meeting. The refashioned board of   
   trustees is made up entirely of Trump appointees, many of whom were   
   appointed after he terminated all of former president Joe Biden’s   
   appointees. New members include White House personnel office director   
   Sergio Gor, chief of staff Susie Wiles and Usha Vance.   
      
   “It is a Great Honor to be Chairman of The Kennedy Center, especially with   
   this amazing Board of Trustees,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the   
   vote. “We will make The Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place!”   
      
   Meanwhile, musician Ben Folds and opera singer Renée Fleming said they   
   were stepping down as artistic advisers with the center, as did the   
   treasurer of its board of trustees, TV producer Shonda Rhimes, her   
   spokesman confirmed. In a statement Fleming said she would leave “out of   
   respect” to both Rutter and former board chair David M. Rubenstein,   
   adding, “I’ve treasured the bi-partisan support for this institution as a   
   beacon of America at our best.” Folds said on Instagram that he would   
   leave his role with the National Symphony Orchestra.   
      
   Rutter tearfully addressed a packed room of Kennedy Center staff members   
   after the vote at a meeting in the center’s Reach complex.   
      
   “I hope I’m not saying goodbye as a friend and colleague to all of you,   
   but I am leaving now,” Rutter said. “And I just want us to keep these   
   ideals that we wear in our lanyard central to the work that we do. And   
   they are from JFK and his family. They were the ones that confirmed them   
   and added one. So let’s remember: courage, justice, freedom, service and   
   gratitude.”   
      
   “I hope you know how much I care about all of you, and I pray for the best   
   for each of you,” she concluded, as staffers rose in applause.   
      
   Before the vote, at least one board member had grown agitated by what he   
   considered resistance from Rutter to ideas he had pressed. Paolo Zampolli,   
   appointed to the board by Trump in 2020, sent her a message on Monday   
   obtained by The Post.   
      
   “As our President would like to see at the Center new development, and we   
   previously discussed, these are the few topics that were never addressed   
   on a proper time manner,” he wrote. “Maybe it should be the right time   
   now.”   
      
   He attached an 11-point draft proposal to upgrade offerings at the Kennedy   
   Center, some of them reviving ideas Zampolli floated upon his appointment.   
   Among them were “thematic and cultural lounges” for Qatar, Israel, Africa   
   and more “global representation”; partnerships with NASA or SpaceX for   
   “artistic collaborations in zero gravity”; a blue-carpet, Valentino-   
   designed fashion event inspired by Jacqueline Kennedy and new marina and   
   ferry connections on the Potomac River.   
      
   As news of Trump’s appointment and Rutter’s termination spread on   
   Wednesday, the Kennedy Center’s website crashed frequently, citing an   
   overload of visitors.   
      
   On Monday, Trump named Grenell as the interim executive director of the   
   Kennedy Center in a post on Truth Social. The position plunged leadership   
   at the Kennedy Center into confusion, as the position “executive director”   
   does not exist. Following Rutter’s address, employees were alerted that   
   Grenell was expected to visit the building that day. The staff meeting   
   concluded with several colleagues tearfully embracing one another before   
   returning to work.   
      
   A termination email sent Friday by Gor to several Biden-appointed board   
   members read: “On behalf of President Donald Trump I’m writing to inform   
   you your position on the board of the Kennedy Center is terminated   
   effective immediately. Thank you for your service.”   
      
   https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/02/12/trump-elected-   
   kennedy-center-board-chair/   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
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