Leaders in Chicago’s diverse performing arts community are worried about the Trump administration’s push to control the country’s cultural narrative and the impact it could have on funding.

On Feb. 12, the president replaced the entire board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., with members of his inner circle and fired Deborah Rutter, the center’s longtime president.

Then the new acting board members unanimously elected Trump as the Kennedy Center’s president and acting chair and pledged to end the center’s “woke programming.”

“No more drag shows or other anti-American propaganda, only the best,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured drag shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) also updated the NEA’s grant guidelines and canceled the 2026 Challenge America grant, which supports arts projects in underserved communities.

“Funding priority will be given to projects that take place in 2026-2027 and celebrate and honor the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” the NEA said in an announcement on its website.

Additionally, under the NEA’s new guidelines, applicants for all grants “will not operate any programs promoting ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or use federal funds to promote gender ideology.”

“It’s so devastating. It’s already so deeply competitive to receive funding, so anything that makes it harder to work and survive is going to be difficult,” Alyssa Gregory, a choreographer and Chicago-based performing artist, said. 

However, Gregory believes that artists from diverse backgrounds, including Chicago’s queer community, will find ways to overcome funding challenges. 

“We will do what we’ve always done (to) survive but be extremely creative,” Gregory said.

Parker Penick is a second-year theatre major at DePaul and double minor in accounting and business administration. Penick believes that even if the majority of not-for-profit theaters change their DEI policies in order to continue receiving government funding, it won’t change their core values. 

“I think they’re going to be showing their DEI statements through their programming, through their mission, vision and values,” Penick said. “They may not have a physical DEI statement, but it’s still going to be an integral part of their company.”

Martine Kei Green-Rogers, dean of The Theatre School at DePaul, worries about funding if local artists cannot find additional resources to cover the money lost from federal grants.

“Chicagoland prides itself on the diversity of stories on its stages and also relies on government funding to do the amazing work it does,” Green-Rogers said. “We will all need to rely on the individuals who frequent the theaters and performances of different marginalized communities to give directly to their favorite arts organizations.”

Penick finds the president’s decision to overtake the Kennedy Center disappointing.

“It’s not going to be the Kennedy Center that we’re used to,” Penick said. “The Kennedy Center was supposed to be about gathering, cultivating all these artists who are the best of the best and honoring them because they provide such important arts to our country.” 

This month, producers of the musical “Hamilton” became the latest of several artists and organizers to cancel shows planned at the center.

“I think people will be asking themselves some really hard questions and making some really gross decisions to remain able to keep making art,” Gregory said.“It makes me think about all of the 2020 promises that art institutions made. Will they buckle under pressure and openly show us that those were empty words?”

As with many of Trump’s executive orders and policy shifts, the effects remain largely to be seen at state and local levels. Though the impacts of these changes could dramatically reshape the cultural narrative and directly affect Chicago’s independent Black, brown and LGBTQ+ performing arts communities.

“I am a believer in the work of the artist. I am not a propagandist. I am not a politician. Art speaks for itself,” Rutter, the former president of the Kennedy Center, said in an interview on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” “Art sometimes doesn’t make you feel comfortable, but it is telling the story of who we are and all artists, as all Americans, have the freedom of expression.”   

Related Stories:

• Musk expands influence in Washington as DOGE gains traction
• Political news overload is hard on student mental health
• Heating up: Climate change policies under Trump

Stay informed with The DePaulia’s top stories, delivered to your inbox every Monday.