Disgusting news coming from the Kennedy Center on Tuesday afternoon.
According to the Free Beacon, the staff were laid off days after musicians were informed bailout wouldn’t cover their paychecks.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday laid off approximately 20 administrative staffers who support the National Symphony Orchestra. The announcement comes just four days after President Donald Trump signed a stimulus bill that provided $25 million in relief funds for the cultural institution.
The news, which was delivered on an all-staff conference call organized by the National Symphony Orchestra’s executive director Gary Ginstling, followed another announcement from Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter on Friday indicating that National Symphony Orchestra musicians would stop receiving paychecks after April 3—a move that infuriated the musicians, whose union immediately filed a grievance and spurred GOP lawmakers to begin trying to claw back the money sent to the organization in the stimulus package.
The Kennedy Center did not return multiple requests for comment.
Rutter has defended the cuts, saying in a Saturday statementthat the decision to stop paying musicians “may seem drastic,” but that it was “the only way through this.” She warned then that future layoffs could come.
A veteran orchestra member who requested anonymity said the speed with which the organization has dropped employees gives the impression that leadership misled Congress when it lobbied for the multi-million dollar bailout. “It’s starting to look like the Kennedy Center knew it was going to lay everyone off even before they lobbied for funds in the bailout,” this person told the Free Beacon. “That’s very disturbing and a huge hit to morale. I’m not sure how we can trust our leadership after this.”
You can read more from our friends at The Free Beacon.
