Kennedy Center’s Ticketmaster Plans Overlapped With Ric Grenell’s Paid Live Nation Board Role, NPR Finds

An NPR investigation found that the Kennedy Center’s planned move to Ticketmaster overlapped with former Kennedy Center president Ric Grenell’s paid service on the board of Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, raising conflict-of-interest concerns at one of the nation’s most prominent arts institutions.

Public filings and prior reporting document the overlap. Live Nation said in a May 20, 2025, news release that Richard A. “Ric” Grenell had been elected to its board of directors. The company’s 2026 proxy statement says Grenell has served as a director since May 2025 and received $62,088 in cash fees and $198,117 in stock awards, for total 2025 compensation of $260,205. Live Nation filings also show he remained on the board through at least June 11, 2026, when he was re-elected at the company’s annual meeting. Grenell, a Trump ally, was installed as the Kennedy Center’s interim executive director and president in February 2025 during the leadership overhaul at the federally chartered arts institution and left that role in March 2026, according to reported accounts.

The Washington Post reported that the Kennedy Center had been preparing to replace its longtime Tessitura ticketing system with Ticketmaster. According to a Kennedy Center spokesman cited by the Post, officials began evaluating Ticketmaster in spring 2024. That evaluation continued into 2026, and the center was targeting Oct. 19, 2026, for the transition, the Post reported, adding that box-office staff had been training on Ticketmaster.

Internal work on the arrangement had moved beyond a preliminary look. In a March 30 email obtained by The Washington Post, Kennedy Center adviser Rick Canny wrote that he had helped shape “many or most of the terms of the deal,” suggesting active negotiations and planning around the proposed switch.

The timeline matters. The Kennedy Center’s evaluation of Ticketmaster began before Grenell joined Live Nation’s board, based on the spokesman’s account to the Post. But the center’s ticketing work continued during a period when Grenell simultaneously had positions connected to both organizations: leading the Kennedy Center and serving as a paid director of Live Nation. In announcing his appointment, Live Nation board chair Randall Mays said, “We are pleased to welcome Ric to our Board.” Grenell said in the same release, “I’m proud to join the board and support Live Nation’s efforts to grow this positive impact of concerts around the world.”

For the Kennedy Center, the contemplated change was significant. The center had used Tessitura for more than two decades. Tessitura is common at nonprofit performing arts organizations because it combines ticketing with donor records and subscription management, making a shift to Ticketmaster more than a routine software update.

The proposed relationship also carried broader public-interest weight because of Live Nation’s legal troubles. On April 15, 2026, a federal jury found Live Nation and Ticketmaster liable on antitrust claims brought by states, according to state attorneys general and Live Nation filings. That verdict did not directly concern the Kennedy Center, but it added policy significance to a major public-facing arts institution preparing to do business with the company.

What remains unconfirmed in the public record cited here is whether the Kennedy Center fully executed the switch. Reporting from NPR and The Washington Post shows the center was preparing for and planning a move to Ticketmaster, with internal deal work underway and a target date set. But no publicly posted final contract in the available record confirms that the transition was completed.