Washington area residents and visitors to the Capital are voting with their wallets in a referendum on President Trump’s “Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”

And he’s losing badly.

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A new analysis by the Washington Post describes half-empty halls and plummeting ticket sales at the Kennedy Center, which Trump took over as chairman earlier this year, vowing to end “woke” programming.

In his purge of the once-revered arts and culture institution, Trump fired staff, replaced advisory boards, and installed a new team headed by out administration official Ric Grennell.  

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The Kennedy Center would be “hot” again, Trump crowed.

The numbers defy the boast.

Ticket sales for the Kennedy Center’s three largest performance venues — the Opera House, the Concert Hall, and the Eisenhower Theater — are the worst they’ve been in years, with tens of thousands of seats left empty since Trump’s takeover.

43 percent of tickets remained unsold for the typical production at the venue in the new fall season.

From a pool of 143,000 seats during September and October, more than 50,000 remained vacant. During the same period last year, only 7 percent of seats on average were available for a typical production on the day of the performance.

Patrons spent half as much money on tickets in September and the first half of October 2025 as during the same period in 2024, the analysis shows.

“Given the unprecedented takeover of a nonpartisan arts institution combined with the inexperience and rhetoric of the new management, I expected a decline in sales,” said a former staff member who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “These numbers are likely more dire than they appear, as they don’t account for canceled productions or shows moved into smaller theaters due to weak ticket sales.”

A current staff member, who also spoke anonymously for fear of reprisal, said the drop is all about Trump.

“This downturn isn’t just about pricing or programming — it feels directly tied to the new regime’s leadership shift and the broader political climate,” the staffer said.

“I’ve heard from ticket buyers who say they’re choosing not to attend because of what the Kennedy Center now represents. The brand itself has become polarizing, which is unprecedented in my experience.”

In March, a National Symphony audience booed Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, when they appeared with a Secret Service detail in a box overlooking the hall.

“You ruined this place!” one attendee shouted at Vance.

By June, the sales trend was already clear.

With the new fall season, balconies have been closed for performances, and ushers are encouraging patrons to fill the front rows of orchestra sections at poorly attended shows.

Grenell moved a production of the Tony-winning musical Parade from the 2,364-seat Opera House to the Eisenhower Theater, with 1100 fewer seats. The end of its run saw a nearly half-empty auditorium.

Just 45 days into the season, poorly attended shows are leaving millions on the table, according to the Post analysis, while potential lifelines for the ailing arts center won’t be making an appearance in 2026.

The producers of Hamilton withdrew from the Kennedy Center schedule after Trump’s purge and promise in February of “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA” at the venue.

“‘Hamilton’ was proudly performed at the Kennedy Center in 2018 during the first Trump administration,” show producer Jeffrey Seller said in March. “We are not acting against his administration, but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover.”

Grenell called the ghosting a sign of political intolerance to conservative audiences.

“The American people need to know that @Lin_Manuel is intolerant of people who don’t agree with him politically,” Grenell posted to social. “It’s clear he and Sellers don’t want Republicans going to their shows.” 

Trump’s preferred audience will have plenty of other available shows to choose from.

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