The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. has reportedly laid off as many as seven staffers of its Social Impact team, all but dismantling an initiative established in 2020 to "leverage the arts" to "advance justice and equity." According to the Washington Post and NPR, the layoffs occurred Tuesday and included the artistic director of Social Impact Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Three employees of the team whose work does not have an equity focus were retained, according to NPR. More from Deadline Deadline has reached out to the Kennedy Center for confirmation and comment. In a letter obtained by NPR, a Kennedy Center human resources exec wrote to one of the laid off staffers that "the decision was made after careful consideration and is based on the Kennedy Center's staffing needs." The Kennedy Center website says its Social Impact programming "seeks to firmly establish the Center as a champion and resource for all communities and ensure our programs, artists, staff, and audiences reflect the full spectrum of America. Multiculturalism is one of our nation's greatest assets and has been the soul of our artistic output for generations. At the Kennedy Center, we strive for this every day." Elsewhere the website states that "the Kennedy Center's Social Impact philosophy and programming holds the institution's vision for what it takes to creatively reflect our nation in all its gorgeous, imaginative multiplicity." In a statement to NPR, Joseph, the now-former Artistic Director of Social Impact, said, "How do you access the American promise if you don't have access to the impulse of creativity? As the nation's cultural center, the Kennedy Center has an obligation to ask itself that question every day...to respond to the call of its namesake who imagined an America that was 'unafraid of grace and beauty'. Our work in Social Impact was to widen our cultural radius and to imagine that inspiration itself was a constitutional right afforded to ALL of this nation's people." The layoffs are thought to mark the first significant staff reduction at the Center since last month when President Donald Trump replaced Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter and Chairman David M. Rubenstein, as well as all Joe Biden-appointed members of the board of trustees, with his own picks. He named himself Chairman of the Board. In a recent visit to the cultural arts institution, Trump criticized the center by asserting, among other things, "They built these rooms that nobody's going to use, rooms underground, and I've often wondered, what are the big cubes they have outside that block the view?" He appeared to be referring to the Reach, the $250 million expansion of performing arts, studio and rehearsal spaces that opened in 2019. On the Kennedy Center website, Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, John F. Kennedy's granddaughter, describes the Reach as "an open stage for differing ideas and divergent cultures, delivering on a vision for what a 21st century arts center should be - inclusive, accessible, and interactive." The current season's Social Impact programming at the Kennedy Center includes free family dance workshops and the ongoing "The Cartography Project" that uses classical music to "encourage meaningful dialogue about the future of anti-racism." The Social Impact programming also includes the Conflux program which each year teams the Center with "a prominent national organization dedicated to social impact-driven work." This year's Conflux was announced as a collaboration with the World Pride organization and the 50th Anniversary of Pride celebrations in Washington, D.C. A recently-canceled Kennedy Center concert featuring the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington D.C. and the National Symphony Orchestra was to have been staged this May as part of WorldPride 2025. In recent months, the Kennedy Center has been besieged by performance cancelations both voluntary and involuntary . Best of Deadline
