edit to add:
Here’s the key from Ric Grenell:
“I was briefed today by the CFO of the Kennedy Center on its financial situation.
She told me there is ZERO cash on hand. And ZERO in reserves. And the deferred maintenance is a crisis.”
Reminder:
“In 1958, Congress allocated $15.5 million ($144 million adjusted for inflation) for construction of the Kennedy Center building. Originally Congress indicated that “the Center was to be an independent facility, self-sustaining, and privately funded.”
The building was paid for by TAXPAYERS and was originally called the National Cultural Center but was renamed the Kennedy Center in 1964 after his assassination.
TAXPAYERS provided the funding for the building but it was supposed to be independent, self-sustaining and PRIVATELY funded.
Is it PRIVATELY funded now?
Was it ever PRIVATELY funded?
“The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. disclosed that it has received $269.4 million in federal funding since 2016 – including $42 million in grants and last year’s $25 million coronavirus earmark that was mostly usedfor payroll.
Even during the 2020 pandemic, the Center grew their net assets by $3.3 million to $505 million. Since 2016, our auditors at
http://openthebooks.com found a $114.4 million increase in net assets – from $390.6 million.”
The Kennedy Center received $269 million in TAXPAYERS MONEY over five years. It had $505 million in assets but now has zero cash or reserves.
It was supposed to be privately funded but TAXPAYERS are now paying for everything.
And the money is gone.
Just one more DC money laundering operation.
“During this five-year period, their president, Deborah Rutter, received pay and benefits amounting to $5.1 million. Peak earning years were 2018 and 2019 when she was paid $1.3 million annually. During the 2020 pandemic year, she cut her pay to $507,375, which is still more than the U.S. President makes at $400,000.”
Does anybody think that the TAXPAYER subsidized Kennedy Center president, should be making more than the President of the United States?
Both are paid by TAXPAYERS.
Who is more important?
If she was paid that much by private funding, I wouldn’t care.
But there is no way in hell that the president of a culture center should have a higher salary paid by TAXPAYERS than the President of the United States.
“The Kennedy Center is a charitable organization recognized under IRS section 501(c)3.”
It’s a “charitable organization” but the only charity seems to be coming from the American TAXPAYERS. It’s not voluntary and we don’t get to write it off as a charitable contribution on our own taxes.
How charitable have the TAXPAYERS been?
“In fiscal year 2020, Congress allocated $78.2 million.
In addition to its $25 million COVID relief earmark and $43.5 million appropriation, the Center also received $8 million in grants from the Department of Education, $650,000 from National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs, and $85,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts.”
The Kennedy Center received $270 million from Congress, paid $5.1 million to their president, and grew net assets by $114.4 million since 2016.
TAXPAYERS money is also funneled to the center from other government departments and agencies.
Why is Congress funneling so much TAXPAYERS money into the Kennedy Center?
And where did all the money go?
“President Donald Trump says he is firing members of the board of trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and naming himself chairman.
He also indicated that he would be dictating programming at one of the nation’s premier cultural institutions, specifically declaring that he would end events featuring performers in drag.”
No more leftwing garbage paid for by TAXPAYERS.
“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN. I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture,” Trump wrote on his social media website.
The money laundering operation is over!