President Donald Trump fired most of the center's board of trustees earlier this month and named himself chairman.

President Donald Trump wants to lavish his personal friends with Kennedy Center Honors, after parachuting himself into the hot seat at the cultural mecca. Earlier this month, Trump, who reportedly also privately railed against the center’s perceived focus on liberal artists,

For the arts institution, which receives only a small portion of its budget from federal funding, the perennial challenge is to raise additional revenue through ticket sales and private donations.