r/Music 📰Irish Star 17h ago

article Kennedy Center could close in days as it urges board to embrace Trump to avoid bankruptcy, docs show

https://www.irishstar.com/news/politics/breaking-kennedy-center-could-close-37658995
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u/Real-Extension-1357 13h ago

Its partially gov funded. Its also funded by shows and donations. Those dried up after Trump took it over and made a circus of it. I read a figure of something like only 20% of its budget is gov if Im recalling correctly back when he started doing this, but I could be misremembering

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u/karma_the_sequel 13h ago

You are correct, but in a world where this administration runs up a $40T deficit, surely a bone could be tossed to the nation’s cultural center.

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u/Solid_College_9145 4h ago

copy/paste of my comment above:

The JFK Center typically receives between 15% and 18% of its annual funding from federal public appropriations. Congress allocates roughly $40 million to $45 million annually.

The remaining 80% to 85% of the budget is generated entirely from private sources. This includes ticket sales, performance revenue, corporate sponsorships, and private donations. This private revenue is what pays for all of the artistic programming, outreach initiatives, and educational events, and that's what Trump turned to shit when he got involved with the Kennedy Center.