特朗普当选肯尼迪中心主席，其总裁被解雇
【中美创新时报2025 年 2 月 12 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）特朗普总统于周三宣布正式当选约翰·F·肯尼迪表演艺术中心主席，巩固了他对这个他最近清除了拜登任命者的机构的控制。《纽约时报》记者Javier C. Hernández 和 Robin Pogrebin对此作了下述报道。
该中心的两名官员表示，该中心长期担任总裁的黛博拉·F·拉特随后被解雇。特朗普最近任命理查德·格雷内尔为该中心的“临时执行董事”，格雷内尔曾在特朗普第一届政府期间担任驻德国大使。
特朗普在社交媒体上发帖称：“我很荣幸能担任肯尼迪中心主席，尤其是在拥有如此出色的董事会的情况下。我们将使肯尼迪中心成为一个非常特别和令人兴奋的地方！”
据该中心的一位官员称，格雷内尔周三访问了该中心。
特朗普的举动引发了文化界的强烈抗议。
特朗普周三当选主席后不久，歌手兼词曲作家本·福尔兹表示，他将辞去国家交响乐团顾问一职，该乐团由肯尼迪中心管理。
福尔兹在 Instagram 上写道：“鉴于肯尼迪中心的发展，从今天起，我将辞去国家交响乐团艺术顾问一职。” “最重要的是，我会想念我们国家交响乐团的音乐家们——他们是最棒的！”
拉特女士在一份关于她离职的声明中表示，领导该机构是她职业生涯中的荣幸，该机构除了是表演艺术中心外，还是前总统约翰·肯尼迪的纪念碑。她没有透露自己是否被解雇。
“肯尼迪中心的目标是不辜负我们的名字，成为世界的灯塔，并确保我们的工作反映美国，”她说。“我为我们为实现这一目标所取得的一切成就感到自豪。从舞台上的艺术到我们在美国各地教室里影响的学生，我们在肯尼迪中心所做的一切都是为了提升人类精神，以加强我们伟大国家的文化。”
肯尼迪中心过去一直由两党董事会管理。周一，特朗普政府正式罢免了前总统约瑟夫·R·拜登和董事会主席、金融家大卫·M·鲁宾斯坦任命的 18 名董事会成员。
周三，该政府在其网站上公布了一份修订后的董事会成员名单，显示了情况发生了多大的变化。
直到最近，董事会成员大致由拜登和特朗普任命的人组成，但现在完全由特朗普任命的人组成。新董事会成员包括一长串特朗普的忠实拥护者，包括总统的幕僚长苏西·威尔斯、长期担任特朗普助手的丹·斯卡维诺和副总统 JD 万斯的妻子乌莎·万斯。
自 2014 年以来一直担任该中心主席的鲁特女士上个月表示，她计划在今年年底卸任。
题图：黛博拉·F·拉特于 2023 年在华盛顿举行的第 46 届肯尼迪中心荣誉活动上。她周三表示，她将辞去肯尼迪中心总裁一职。图片来源：Ron Sachs
附原英文报道：
Trump Elected Chair of Kennedy Center as Its President Is Fired
The president solidified his grip on the performing arts complex as the center’s longtime president, Deborah F. Rutter, was fired, two officials at the center said.
Deborah F. Rutter at the 46th Annual Kennedy Center Honors event in Washington in 2023. She said on Wednesday that she was stepping down as president of the Kennedy Center.Credit…Pool photo by Ron Sachs
By Javier C. Hernández and Robin Pogrebin
Feb. 12, 2025
President Trump was officially elected chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, he announced on Wednesday, cementing his grip on an institution that he recently purged of Biden appointees.
The center’s longtime president, Deborah F. Rutter, was then fired from her position, two officials at the center said. Mr. Trump recently named Richard Grenell, who was ambassador to Germany during the first Trump administration, the center’s “interim executive director.”
Mr. Trump posted on social media: “It is a Great Honor to be Chairman of The Kennedy Center, especially with this amazing Board of Trustees. We will make The Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place!”
Mr. Grenell visited the center on Wednesday, according to an official at the center.
Mr. Trump’s actions have prompted an outcry in the cultural world.
Shortly after Mr. Trump was elected chairman on Wednesday, the singer and songwriter Ben Folds said he would resign his post as an adviser to the National Symphony Orchestra, which is overseen by the Kennedy Center.
“Given developments at the Kennedy Center, effective today I am resigning as artistic adviser to the N.S.O.,” Mr. Folds wrote on Instagram. “Mostly, and above all, I will miss the musicians of our nation’s symphony orchestra — just the best!”
Ms. Rutter said in a statement about her departure that it had been the honor of her career to lead the institution, which, in addition to a performing arts center, is a memorial to former President John F. Kennedy. She did not say if she had been fired.
“The goal of the Kennedy Center has been to live up to our namesake, serving as a beacon for the world and ensuring our work reflects America,” she said. “I depart my position proud of all we accomplished to meet that ambition. From the art on our stages to the students we have impacted in classrooms across America, everything we have done at the Kennedy Center has been about uplifting the human spirit in service of strengthening the culture of our great nation.”
The Kennedy Center, which has historically been run by bipartisan boards in the past. On Monday, the Trump administration officially removed 18 board members who had been appointed by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and the board chairman, the financier David M. Rubenstein.
It posted a revised list of board members on its website on Wednesday that showed how much things had changed.
While the board had been roughly split between Biden and Trump appointees until recently, it is now entirely made up of appointees of Mr. Trump. The new board members include a litany of Trump loyalists, including the president’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles; Dan Scavino, a longtime Trump aide; and Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President JD Vance.
Ms. Rutter, the center’s president since 2014, said last month that she planned to step down at the end of the year.
