Children’s musician cancels Kennedy Center shows as ‘Trump-Kennedy Center’ rebrand sparks artist backlash

The children’s concerts were supposed to be simple: bilingual songs about friendship and migration, call-and-response choruses, a post-show chat with kids and parents.

Instead, Sonia De Los Santos’ Feb. 7 appearance at Washington’s premier performing arts center has turned into the latest flashpoint in a widening clash over who controls one of the country’s most visible cultural stages — and whose name is on the building.

The Grammy-nominated Mexican American children’s musician announced last week that she was canceling two youth concerts and a “creative conversation” at the venue now branded by its leadership as the Trump-Kennedy Center, saying the institution no longer felt like a welcoming space for her or her audience.

In a statement posted to Instagram on Jan. 8, De Los Santos said that as an artist she treasures the freedom to create and share her music and has used that platform “to uplift the stories of immigrants in this country.” She wrote that the “current climate” at the center no longer represents a space where she, her band or their audience would feel welcome.

De Los Santos, who frequently performs for school groups and families and whose album ¡Alegría! was nominated for a Latin Grammy for best children’s album, declined to elaborate beyond her written statement in an email exchange with reporters.

Her decision adds a children’s performer to a growing list of artists who have pulled out of events at the institution since former President Donald Trump moved to remake its board last year and the trustees voted in December to add his name to the official brand.

The Kennedy Center remains, under federal law, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. But the Trump-appointed leadership has reintroduced it to the public as the Trump-Kennedy Center, sparking lawsuits, political pushback and now an emerging, informal artist boycott.

A personal decision in a political fight

De Los Santos was scheduled to perform on the center’s family series, a cornerstone of its educational mission. Her shows feature Spanish and English lyrics and stories drawn from her upbringing in Monterrey, Mexico, and life as an immigrant in the United States.

In her Instagram post, she linked her decision directly to that identity and to the families she performs for, many of whom are immigrants or children of immigrants.

“I want the spaces where I share my music to be welcoming to immigrants, children and families of color,” she wrote, adding that she no longer feels that is the case at the Washington venue.

The center’s new leadership responded sharply.

Roma Daravi, a former Trump White House aide who now serves as vice president for public relations at the center, said in an email that “this country was built on legal immigrants” and said she found De Los Santos’ statement “highly offensive” as a first-generation American.

Daravi said the Trump-Kennedy Center “is open to everyone” and argued that De Los Santos was “refusing to engage with an institution open to everyone,” which she called “a step toward discrimination.”

The back-and-forth reflects a deeper disagreement over what it means for a national arts institution to be welcoming — and who gets to decide.

Trump’s takeover and a contested renaming

The Kennedy Center was created by Congress in 1964 as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and a national cultural center on the Potomac River. Its name and purpose are written into federal law, including 20 U.S.C. § 76i and § 76j, which describe it as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and set conditions on additional commemorations.

After returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump moved quickly to reshape the center’s leadership. He removed several trustees appointed during the Biden administration, installed allies on the board and was elected chairman.

His appointees included former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell as the center’s president and chief executive. Conservative media personalities and longtime political supporters also joined the governing body.

On Dec. 18, 2025, the Trump-aligned board voted to rename the institution “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” The White House announced the change that day, saying the vote was unanimous and describing the new name as recognition of Trump’s role in “saving” the building financially and physically.

Trump said he was “surprised” and “honored” by the decision and called the board “distinguished.”

Within days, the institution’s website and public materials began using the shorter “Trump-Kennedy Center” branding.

Legal scholars, former congressional staff and historians have questioned whether the board has the authority to change the name of what is, in statute, a presidential memorial. Some have compared the move to trying to rename the Lincoln Memorial by board vote.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, who serves as an ex officio member of the board by virtue of her role in Congress, filed suit in federal court late last year challenging the trustees’ action. She has said she was muted on a video call during the renaming vote and did not have the opportunity to object, disputing claims of unanimity.

Other ex officio members, including House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have also said they did not participate in the decision.

Congress has not acted to change the center’s name. A bipartisan spending bill approved earlier this month provides $32 million in operating funds through Sept. 30, 2027, for the “John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,” using only the original statutory name.

Members of the Kennedy family have publicly condemned the rebranding. Former Rep. Joe Kennedy III said the center “can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial,” arguing that the board cannot unilaterally alter a congressional memorial.

A roster of cancellations

De Los Santos’ withdrawal follows a series of cancellations that accelerated after Trump took control of the board and the renaming vote.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of Hamilton, pulled planned events in 2025, according to people familiar with the programming. Rock musician Peter Wolf also canceled appearances.

Around the December vote, Washington-area jazz drummer and vibraphonist Chuck Redd backed out of a Christmas Eve concert at the center. The jazz ensemble The Cookers withdrew from scheduled New Year’s Eve performances.

In early 2026, Grammy-winning banjoist Béla Fleck canceled three appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra set for later in the year, saying in a statement that performing at the center had become “charged and political.” Grenell criticized Fleck publicly on social media, saying the musician had “caved to the woke mob” and accusing him of making the situation political.

Composer Stephen Schwartz, best known for the Broadway musical Wicked, declined to host a planned opera gala this spring. A popular variety show featuring Asian American performers, Asian AF, was listed on the center’s calendar for May but later marked as canceled and then removed; the center cited a scheduling conflict, and organizers have not commented publicly.

Beyond individual artists, Washington Performing Arts, a major nonprofit presenter, shifted its 2025–26 season out of the center, citing concerns about the institution’s direction under the new leadership.

Advocacy groups and arts patrons are now pressuring additional companies to reconsider upcoming engagements, including the San Francisco Ballet, which is scheduled to bring its production Mere Mortals to Washington in May.

Attendance and federal support

The controversy has coincided with signs of strain in the center’s audience base.

Television viewership for the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors broadcast fell by roughly one-third compared with the prior year, according to figures reported by the network. Ticket sales for some staple events, including the National Symphony Orchestra’s annual performances of Handel’s Messiah, have also been described as weaker than usual.

At the same time, federal appropriations have continued. The recent spending bill that reaffirmed the center’s JFK-only legal name also extended millions in taxpayer support, reflecting Congress’ dual role in subsidizing and defining the institution while largely leaving day-to-day programming to its board.

Trump and his allies have argued that the renaming simply acknowledges his efforts to secure funding for renovations during his first term and his current administration’s backing. In a statement released by the center after the December vote, officials said the Trump-Kennedy Center reflected a “bipartisan commitment to the arts.”

Critics say the new branding risks alienating large segments of the public and undermining the idea of the center as a national, rather than partisan, stage.

A national stage under scrutiny

The Kennedy Center has long been presented as both a monument to a slain president and a neutral platform for ballet, opera, theater, jazz and educational programming. Presidents of both parties have typically kept some distance from its artistic decisions, even as they appear at the annual Honors gala or on opening nights.

Trump’s second term has pushed the institution into the center of his broader campaign against what he describes as “woke” cultural elites. His allies at the center have emphasized patriotic programming and spoken openly about reshaping the arts landscape.

That shift has left artists and audiences to decide how to respond.

For performers like De Los Santos, the decision is now about more than stage acoustics or touring schedules. Her cancellation means school groups and families that might have filled the center’s Family Theater next month will not see her bilingual songs there.

The center has not announced replacement programming for her Feb. 7 slots. A spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether the seats would remain empty or be filled by other artists.

As legal challenges move forward and more artists weigh their options, the future of the Trump-Kennedy Center — and of the Kennedy Center as defined in law — remains unsettled.

For now, the nation’s most prominent performing arts center stands at the intersection of statute and branding, public funding and private dissent. A children’s musician’s quiet decision not to sing there underscores how deeply that intersection now runs through American cultural life.