Recommendations of the Editorial team
Ben Folds wrote in an open letter on Instagram brought attention to the National Symphony Orchestra’s dire situation amid Donald Trump’s restructuring of the Kennedy Center.
“Our National Symphony Orchestra is in real danger – it may not survive. There is currently no plan or solution to save the organization,” Folds wrote. But he insisted: “The public can turn the tide if they take an overwhelming stand.”
For Folds, the NSO situation is a personal matter. In 2017, he was appointed the orchestra’s first artist advisor and in the following years led the “Declassified” concert series, in which the NSO reinterpreted classical and contemporary music together with various artists. He resigned from his post in early 2025 after Trump took control of the Kennedy Center.
No playtime, no home
As Folds explained, the NSO has no programming planned for the coming season – in part because the orchestra “doesn’t even know if it has a home anymore” because Trump wants to close the Kennedy Center for renovations. Although those plans were recently halted by a judge – who also ordered Trump to remove his name from the Kennedy Center building – Folds stressed that this is “not the moment to triumph because it will be a long, messy process to get back to sanity.” (The Kennedy Center is expected to appeal the ruling.)
Additionally, Folds pointed out that the NSO’s “means of survival are intertwined with the Kennedy Center’s legal and financial problems – for example, the NSO’s endowment fund, which is tied to a bank loan.” He added that the NSO had been “virtually suffocated” by the financial turmoil resulting from the presidential takeover. (Both fundraising and ticket sales have plummeted since Trump took over last year.)
To strengthen the NSO, Folds called for more reporting on the orchestra’s situation – alongside high-profile Kennedy Center stories like the renaming after Trump. And he urged donors not to forget that the NSO “will need a lot of support to get back on its feet.”
Appeal to Congress and the public
He also called on the population to express their support for the NSO publicly or in private letters. And he underscored the importance of contacting members of Congress and demanding new protections for the Kennedy Center and other federal cultural institutions.
“We need asserted independence of our arts from politics so that trust can be restored – trust that artists and audiences of all backgrounds can exchange ideas and art in a non-political environment,” Folds wrote. “Furthermore, Congress and the Kennedy Center Board of Directors must develop policies that require future Kennedy Center directors to have real experience in arts administration. We are now seeing what happens when an incompetent director who doesn’t know this business and is busy attacking people and artists who displease him or the president. Audiences and artists go elsewhere. Greetings to everyone who wanted to run the Kennedy Center like an ordinary commercial venue.”
Towards the end of his letter, Folds reflected on his decision to step down as artist advisor to the NSO. It “still hurts him,” but he couldn’t risk “being used as a political bargaining chip and, by association, implicitly supporting the president’s policies.” At the same time, he noted that the members of the NSO were in a “different situation”.
Resignation that hurts
He continued: “Your resignation would have achieved nothing – except simple unemployment. You remained apolitical. You played until you dropped in this terrible situation.”
Folds concluded with these pointed words: “As the politicization of the Kennedy Center makes it very difficult to attract audiences and artists, our options for support are limited. But I say: Let them know that we are here and ready. Let the world know, even in the murky waters of legal battles. Otherwise, let’s imagine: a free Western country without a National Symphony Orchestra. That’s real.”
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Why does Campino think that sometimes it’s good to just keep your mouth shut? Why does he sometimes feel like a drinks delivery man? He provides the answer in our cover story about the Toten Hosen’s big farewell, exclusively in issue 06/26. And that’s not all: the magazine includes the world exclusive 7-inch single “Always just loved” – on which Sven Regener from Element of Crime also contributed. You can easily order the ROLLING STONE edition here.