National Symphony Orchestra executive director steps down, exiting Kennedy Center
WASHINGTON 鈥 National Symphony Orchestra Executive Director Jean Davidson announced on Friday that she was stepping down from the ensemble that primarily performs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
鈥淚t鈥檚 no secret that this has been a really hard year,鈥 Davidson told the New York Times, while noting that she started looking for a new opportunity several months ago.
She will head the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in California.
The National Symphony Orchestra did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Davidson鈥檚 departure follows months of turmoil at the Kennedy Center, a national cultural center in the US capital that was named after former President John F. Kennedy months after his assassination. President Donald Trump has appointed himself as chairman, pushed to change the organization鈥檚 focus and named a board that voted last year to add his name to the institution. Last month, Trump announced that the Kennedy Center would .
US Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democrat and ex-officio Kennedy Center board member, last year filed a court challenge over the name change. On Friday, she amended that lawsuit to also ask the court to halt moves to 鈥渟hutter and gut鈥 the facility.
Roma Daravi, vice-president of public relations for the center, said in a statement to Reuters: 鈥淲e鈥檙e confident the court will uphold the board鈥檚 decision on the name change and the desperately needed renovations which will continue as scheduled.鈥
Beatty said in her lawsuit that board members appointed by Trump, a Republican, also had unlawfully stripped voting rights from her and other ex-officio board members who serve under an act of Congress. Ex-officio members come from both political parties.
In response to a request for comment on board members鈥 voting rights, Daravi鈥檚 office referred Reuters to comments made by Daravi to , saying that ex-officio members have never voted.
鈥淭he bylaws were revised to reflect this longstanding precedent and everyone received the technical changes both before the meeting and after revisions,鈥 Daravi wrote in an e-mail to the Post, which reported on the bylaw changes late last year.
Dozens of artists have canceled performances at the center since Trump returned to the White House last year. While an array of reasons have been given for the cancellations, some artists have cited opposition to aspects of Trump鈥檚 agenda. Among the many events it has historically hosted are the Kennedy Center Honors, usually held every December. 鈥 Reuters
