Deborah F. Rutter will step down as president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington at the end of the year, the center announced on Monday, in the latest sign of uncertainty at the institution as it navigates President Trump’s second term.
The Kennedy Center had planned to welcome a new board chairman this year, but shortly after the presidential election it announced that it had failed to find a new one and that David M. Rubenstein, who was elected chairman in 2010, would stay on until September 2026.
Ms. Rutter, 68, the center’s president since 2014, guided the organization through the coronavirus pandemic, oversaw an expansion of its campus, added hip-hop and comedy to its offerings and lured the Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda to be music director of the National Symphony Orchestra. She helped keep the Kennedy Center Honors, the popular annual telecast recognizing distinguished American artists, robust during Mr. Trump’s first term, when he broke with precedent and declined to attend after some honorees criticized him.
Ms. Rutter, whose contract is up in August, agreed to stay on through the end of the year to help with the transition. She said in an interview that the center was looking forward to working with Mr. Trump and his administration, noting that half of the center’s board is made up of his appointees. She said that the first lady, Melania Trump, had already personally expressed interest in reconnecting with the center.
“Republicans don’t love the arts more or less than Democrats,” Ms. Rutter said.
Ms. Rutter said that she was leaving because she was ready for a change, and that it was time for a new generation of leaders to “pick up the mantle and move the Kennedy Center forward.”
“I’m not leaving because I’m tired of the Kennedy Center,” she said. “I’m leaving because it’s time for me to think about using my talents in another way, and for the Kennedy Center to have a fresh new vision.”
The new administration is already having an impact on the arts. Last week, the National Gallery of Art in Washington announced that it would end its diversity, equity and inclusion programs because of Mr. Trump’s executive order calling such initiatives “illegal and immoral.”
The Kennedy Center does not have a formal diversity, equity and inclusion program, according to Ms. Rutter. But the center promotes its commitment to “diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and belonging.” And a social credo, drafted in 2021, describes the center’s aim of “elevating and supporting the voices of those who have been historically marginalized and underrepresented.”
Ms. Rutter said the center would review the language it uses to describe diversity efforts in light of the executive order.
The center is still waiting to see the new administration’s arts policies. In his first term, Mr. Trump proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, but it survived, and even grew, because of bipartisan backing in Congress.
During her tenure, Ms. Rutter, a veteran arts manager who previously led the Chicago Symphony and the Seattle Symphony, oversaw the Kennedy Center’s first expansion in its 54-year history, a complex of studios and classrooms known as the Reach.
The offerings at the center, which runs the Washington National Opera and the National Symphony Orchestra, grew during Ms. Rutter’s time there; genres like comedy and hip-hop are now side by side with classical music, ballet and theater. The center’s budget totaled $268 million last year, compared with $213 million in 2015.
Ms. Rutter was at the helm during the pandemic when the center canceled hundreds of events and lost millions in ticket revenue. She oversaw the start of a major fund-raising drive in 2023 aimed at shoring up the endowment, valued at about $163 million, compared with about $113 million in 2014.
Mr. Rubenstein, who extended his term as board chairman, said he was optimistic about the center’s future, in part because of Ms. Rutter’s strong leadership.
“It will be difficult for us to find somebody who has all of her skills,” said Mr. Rubenstein, a co-founder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm. “She’s a difficult act to follow.”
Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation, which has supported the center’s programs, praised Ms. Rutter for expanding the Kennedy Center’s reach.
“The Kennedy Center, as it has become diverse, has become even more effective at fulfilling its mission, which is about excellence,” he said.
Ms. Rutter said she did not know what she would do next, adding that she did not envision leading another large cultural organization. She said her successor would need to find ways to make the Kennedy Center a place that brings Americans together in a time of polarization.
“The arts can and should be a unifying aspect of our society,” she said. “This is our mandate — to what degree can we help people in our country really truly find one another?”
