Pack the House PURPLE

The KC is home to TWO professional orchestras:

Over 150 musicians;
hundreds of support staff;
stagehands;
management;
orchestra librarians;
ushers, box office workers, and more.

Nineteen labor unions are represented at the Kennedy Center. For most KC musicians, winning a nationwide audition to work in this magnificent building was a signal event in their careers, and an achievement that will not be easily replicated.

Many musicians have been at the KC for decades—they have families, volunteer in the community, work at most of the area’s music schools and institutions of higher learning as your children’s teachers and coaches.

KC musicians are doing their jobs exactly as they always have
Right now, the defection and boycott of the audience is the greatest threat to these pillars of the DC arts community, and a threat that may be existential.

Both the WNO and the NSO have been residents of the KC since its opening in 1971, but once they are gone, they are likely gone for good. When the audience does not show up for opera, ballet, or symphonic music, that signals to current leadership that these art forms are not popular or self-supporting and not worth presenting.

A boycott of the Center sets in motion a self-fulfilling prophecy enabled by those who believe they are taking a principled stance. Unfortunately, the victims here are musicians and support staff, as well as the audience that will no longer be able to enjoy the art forms they treasure.

These are some of the human reasons why we need to pack the house and let our voices be heard. We support Musicians of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra, as well as artists and staff who make the Kennedy Center a thriving arts center.