<\/p>\n
Richard Grenell was never an arts leader.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
From the time he was appointed interim executive director of the Kennedy Center, last February, he\u2019s seemed to think he could bully his way into success on the job. He repeatedly insulted artists and arts organizations across the country who didn\u2019t fall in line with President Donald Trump,<\/a> who appointed himself the organization\u2019s board chair within weeks of his second term and later renamed the center after himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Now, with Grenell\u2019s abrupt exit from the post on Friday, March 13, there\u2019s no more pretending otherwise: His strategy was an abject failure \u2014 despite what Trump wrote on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cRic Grenell has done an excellent job,\u201d the president wrote. \u201cI want to thank him for the outstanding work he has done.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The same post named Kennedy Center Vice President of Facilities Operations Matt Floca as Grenell\u2019s replacement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The number of artists and arts organizations who have canceled Kennedy Center performances during Grenell\u2019s and Trump\u2019s tenures is striking. In the Bay Area alone, San Francisco Ballet,<\/a> the producers of \u201cEureka Day\u201d<\/a> (written by Oakland playwright Jonathan Spector) and the International Pride Orchestra all made that move. They join Ren\u00e9e Fleming, Stephen Schwartz, the cast of \u201cHamilton,\u201d Philip Glass and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The center\u2019s box office suffered in parallel. By October, ticket sales<\/a> reached lows not seen since the pandemic \u2014 down almost 40% from the previous year \u2014 challenging a statement that Grenell made to the Washington Reporter: \u201cWe are doing the big things that people want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The trouble is, welcoming artists and audiences is a huge part of an arts leader\u2019s job, especially amid the butts-in-seats concerns of post-pandemic recovery. You can\u2019t lure audiences back with an ethos of fear and recrimination. Grenell gave Kennedy Center stakeholders the message that they\u2019d be better received elsewhere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAny performer who isn\u2019t professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won\u2019t be welcomed,\u201d Grenell told Entertainment Weekly in May, calling \u201cLes Mis\u00e9rables\u201d cast members as \u201cvapid and intolerant\u201d when they announced they\u2019d boycott<\/a> a performance that Trump attended.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In an April email<\/a> to guitarist Yasmin Williams, he called DEI \u201cbulls\u2014\u201d and accused her of \u201cvapidness\u201d as well, signing off, \u201cDon\u2019t be a victim.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n His own understanding of arts nonprofit finances seemed to be in flux. In May, he called for an inquiry into the center\u2019s finances. In an NPR interview<\/a> in January, he called it \u201cimmoral\u201d to pay for staff with reserves \u2014 a common practice at arts nonprofits rebuilding their audience bases. In that same interview, he seemed to contradict himself, saying, \u201cWe cannot do programming that loses money,\u201d only to add, \u201cNo art institution is able to pay for programming with ticket sales alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n