On Sept. 18, 2026, more than 2,500 artists, Kennedy Center workers, union members, and community members joined hands around the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, forming a human chain encircling the building and calling on President Donald Trump to step down as chairman and from the Center’s Board of Trustees.

“Hands Around the Kennedy Center” was organized by Hands Off the Arts and emceed by local drag artist Tara Hoot.

The action followed the board’s Sept. 15 vote to close the Center after a federal judge rejected the renaming of the center. It also comes after President Trump was photographed reviewing a poster depicting the building’s demolition.

Chris Raleigh, co-founder of Hands Off the Arts said, “The show of support from the community was astounding. We didn’t just form a chain; we built a wall of people around the Center to protect it from becoming one more beloved American institution demolished by Donald Trump. This Center belongs to the American people. If he wants to get to it, he has to go through us first.”

Mallory Miller, co-founder of Hands Off the Arts, added,”Trump decided he was going to close the Kennedy Center in the nation’s 250th anniversary year, and we said not so fast. It stayed open until this week — and it will be open again, because we are going to make sure of it.”

Among the notable people who went to the protest were Actress Lynda Carter, who starred as Wonder Woman, Rep. Don Beyer and Rep. Jonathan L. Jackson, D.C. Councilmember Robert White, and Sam Epps, president of the Metropolitan Washington Council.

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