Black Arts and Culture

Organizers Follow Trend & Move Annual MLK “Let Freedom Ring” Event Away From Kennedy Center

Organizers of the annual MLK “Let Freedom Ring” concert moved the long-running Georgetown University event from the Kennedy Center to the Howard Theatre to reduce costs and amid a wave of high-profile cancellations and resignations from the center.
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By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

When concert organizers recently moved the annual MLK “Let Freedom Ring” show to D.C.’s Howard Theatre to save money, they joined a growing list of entertainers who have cancelled events at the center.

The Georgetown University-produced event began 50 years ago. Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and Chaka Khan have performed, backed by a choir made up of singers from D.C.-area churches and from Georgetown University, which produces the event.

Marc Bamuthi Joseph, who served until March 2025 as the Kennedy Center’s artistic director for social impact, a division that created programs for underserved communities in the D.C. region, said, “I would much rather that we all be spared the hypocrisy of celebrating a man who not only fought for justice, but who articulated the case for equity maybe better than anyone in American history … when the official position of this administration is an anti-equity position,” he said.

In February 2025, the current administration took over the Kennedy Center and appointed new leadership. Shortly thereafter, the social media division was dissolved. Bamuthi and his team were laid off.

Shonda Rhimes has resigned from the center’s board of trustees while Ben Folds and Renée Fleming stepped down as artistic advisors.

Issa Rae also canceled a sold-out show at the venue.

“Unfortunately, due to what I believe to be an infringement on the values of an institution that has faithfully celebrated artists of all backgrounds through all mediums, I’ve decided to cancel my appearance at this venue,” Rae wrote in an Instagram post at the time.

The move comes on the heels of a series of cancellations and relocations at the Kennedy Center.

The list includes Nashville banjoist Béla Fleck, who announced in January that he would skip a scheduled performance alongside the National Symphony Orchestra as it had “become charged and political,” when “the focus should be on the music.”

Other artists who have canceled or withdrawn include:

Kristy Lee, Wayne Tucker, Brentano Quartet with Hsin-Yun Huang, Magpie, Doug Varone and Dancers, Comedy show “Asian AF,” Touring production of “Hamilton,” Chuck Redd, The Cookers, Stephen Schwartz, Rhiannon Giddens, Balún.