San Francisco musical act disinvited from Kennedy Center with one-sentence email
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WASHINGTON (KSBW) — In early February, President Donald Trump set his sights on transforming the programming at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and a San Francisco group has felt the effects.
The International Pride Orchestra, a nonprofit volunteer musical group based in San Francisco, began communicating with the Kennedy Center in September regarding a concert at the venue during the WorldPride festival, set to take place between May 17 and June 8. They settled on the date of June 4, and after a logistics Zoom call in early February with staff members of the center and DC Pride, the International Pride Orchestra sent over a rider to be included in a contract.
In the following days, Trump declared in a social media post that the venue would stop hosting “DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA,” named himself chairman of the organization and fired multiple board members. On Feb. 10, the International Pride Orchestra received a one-sentence email from the Kennedy Center that read “we are not able to offer you a contract at this time.”
“No explanation — certainly we can read between the lines of what’s going on,” Michael Roest, the orchestra’s founding artistic director, told SFGATE. He noted that the group includes many drag performers and highlights composers from the queer community such as Leonard Bernstein.
The Kennedy Center has served as one of the country’s premier venues since its opening in 1971, but has reportedly seen a 50% decline in ticket sales since the announcement of the leadership change.
Despite the setback regarding venue, the show will go on. The orchestra has announced that it will move the event to the Strathmore Music Center, 10 miles north in Bethesda, Maryland, on June 5. Local drag performer and filmmaker Peaches Christ will take on hosting duties alongside the orchestra for the third time. Established in 2023, the full symphonic orchestra is composed of 80 performers from around the country (plus members from Mexico and Taiwan) and has played in San Francisco and New York, with “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum Thorgy Thor appearing as a violin soloist. To pay for the event, which originally was to be funded by the Kennedy Center, the International Pride Orchestra plans to host several fundraisers in San Francisco throughout the spring.
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