A veteran jazz ensemble canceled its New Year’s Eve performances at the Kennedy Center on Monday, becoming the latest group to withdraw from the institution after its board voted to add President Donald Trump’s name to the venue.
The decision adds to a growing series of cancellations that have unfolded since the renaming was announced earlier this month, intensifying debate over politics, cultural institutions, and artistic independence.
The jazz group the Cookers had been scheduled to perform twice on New Year’s Eve and had been promoted by the Kennedy Center as an all-star ensemble.
In a statement, the group said, “With deep regret, we must share that we are unable to perform as planned on New Year’s Eve.”
Members later indicated that the center’s name change played a role in their decision, citing concerns about the broader implications of the move.
Their withdrawal follows the cancellation of a Christmas Eve jazz concert last week, which musician Chuck Redd attributed directly to the renaming.
Additional cancellations include performances by Doug Varone and Dancers, a New York-based dance company, which pulled out of two April shows.
Folk singer-songwriter Kristy Lee also canceled a January appearance, citing objections to the treatment of American history and cultural symbols.
Richard Grenell, whom Trump named president of the Kennedy Center, dismissed the cancellations as politically motivated.
He described them as “a form of derangement syndrome” and said the artists withdrawing had been booked by the institution’s previous leadership.
Grenell has argued that the earlier programming reflected ideological preferences rather than a commitment to serving broad audiences.
The Kennedy Center’s board voted to rename the venue the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, often shortened to the Trump Kennedy Center.
Democratic lawmakers have challenged the decision as illegal, and members of the Kennedy family have publicly condemned the move as undermining the memorial’s purpose.
The dispute has raised legal questions about the board’s authority and has placed one of the nation’s most prominent cultural institutions at the center of a widening political and artistic rift.