AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

President Trump visited the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Monday to preside over a meeting of the famed art institution’s new board. In his first weeks in office, Trump fired the president of the Kennedy Center, replaced the bipartisan board of trustees and named himself as chair of the Kennedy Center. New members of the board include his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and her mother; second lady Usha Vance; and two hosts on Fox News, Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo.

Last week, Vice President JD Vance and Usha Vance were met with a chorus of disapproval as they attended a concert Thurday night at the Kennedy Center. The audience loudly booed as they took their seats for a performance of the National Symphony Orchestra.

AUDIENCE: [booing]

AMY GOODMAN: Trump’s move to take over the Kennedy Center has been met with widespread condemnation from the artistic world. Earlier this month, the producers of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway hit Hamilton pulled out of plans to bring the production to the Kennedy Center next year. In a statement, producer Jeffrey Seller said, quote, “Our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center.” On Monday, Trump criticized Hamilton.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Come here and see a show. I was never big fan of — I never liked Hamilton very much. And I never liked it. But we are going to have some really good shows. I will say this: Come here and watch it, and you’ll see over a period of time it will improve very greatly physically, and we’re going to get some very good shows. The thing that does well are Broadway hits. And we have some beauty. I guess we have Les Mis coming, and we have some others. But the Broadway hits have done very well. So, I’m going to spend some time. We have a good board. In the meantime, we’re running the country, and we’re running it well.

AMY GOODMAN: Rhiannon Giddens has also cancelled an upcoming appearance, as did the actor Issa Rae, who had sold out, and others.

We’re joined now by two musicians who decided to go ahead with their Kennedy Center concert on Thursday but opted to use the stage to protest Trump’s policies. The folk musicians Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman unfurled banners during their concert that read “Reinstate Queer Programming” and “Creativity at the Kennedy Center Must Not Be Suppressed.” Nora also read this message from the stage.

NORA BROWN: We are outraged by the tyrannical change of leadership at the Kennedy Center. By weaponizing the Kennedy Center’s stages, Trump has systematically sought to silence queer and BIPOC artists under the flimsy pretense of rooting out wokeness, a dog whistle for anything that dares challenge his hateful and dangerous administration. Protest comes in many forms, and we want to honor the legacy of the Kennedy Center as a radical space.

AMY GOODMAN: Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman join us in our studio here in New York.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! It was Thursday night, when Vance was booed, that you were there. Nora, start off by talking about the banners you unfurled and your message, why you decided to perform but also share this message of protest.

NORA BROWN: Yeah. Thanks, Amy.

I guess — well, there was a lot of lead-up to this decision, you know. There are many people canceling, as you mentioned before. And we were really considering what the most effective means of protest would be for us as smaller artists who have access to the stage. And we ended up deciding that our voices would be loudest on the stage and that that was the place for us to kind of raise some awareness of the situation, but also, like, create a space for collective singing and, you know, use folk music, which is what we do best, to kind of allow for that resistance to exist in the music itself. Yeah.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Stephanie, what’s at stake, in your viewpoint, for the arts and creative freedom under this Trump administration?

STEPHANIE COLEMAN: Oh man. What’s at stake for the arts under this Trump administration? I mean, this is — the arts are a fundamental way for people to express ourselves and for us to recognize other people’s stories and experiences and struggles. And for the arts to come under attack by the Trump administration is — just seems like such a blatant and disgusting way of trying to divide people. And, you know, as musicians, this is our way of connecting with others. And it just feels like that’s just such a clear, like, step in the authoritarian playbook.

NORA BROWN: Yeah, and I feel like art is a unique medium of resistance, because it’s all about self-expression, and self-expression invites critical thinking. And that’s what really is what Trump is afraid of. And we see that in how he’s, you know, defunding higher education, that he doesn’t want people to question his administration. He doesn’t want people to be exposed to other ways of thinking. You know, that’s really what he’s afraid of.

AMY GOODMAN: One of the things he did yesterday — there aren’t other presidential portraits, but John F. Kennedy. It’s the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center. But he unveiled portraits of himself, of Melania, of JD Vance and of his wife Usha. You chose, one of your songs that you performed was “The Unicorn.” Why?

NORA BROWN: Well, I learned the song recently. It’s by a guy named Peter Grudzien, who was what maybe would fall into the outsider artist category, kind of an anti-folk thing that was happening in maybe the early '70s. And he was from Astoria and was — he's been dubbed kind of the first gay male country musician. And so, it kind of seemed to fit with the program that we were working on, you know? But yeah, it’s a beautiful song, and he’s really such an incredible and unique songwriter, and we were excited to share that with people. Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: You express yourselves through your music. And you’ve brought your fiddle. You brought your guitar. What do you want to share with us?

STEPHANIE COLEMAN: Yeah, well, we’d love to play a piece of _The Unicorn.” It’s the song we love so much. And so we’d love to play it for you now.

AMY GOODMAN: Go right ahead. We welcome Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman on the stage here at Democracy Now!

NORA BROWN and STEPHANIE COLEMAN: [performing “The Unicorn”] One, two, three, one, two.

The spring is in the streets again
And too many seasons gone by
We move to cruise and stare at ourselves
Hoping to find
Someone half-blind
Somebody who
Will make us new
To hold in the night
And guard us from fright
Change all that’s gone for the new

While in our very city there lives a real-life unicorn
The queen that holds the unicorn
Will be reborn
Calls on that day
Storms pass away
The night turns to day
The whole world is gay
Angels descend from the sky.

AMY GOODMAN: The folk musicians Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman. They performed on Thursday. That was the day the Vances were booed as they came into the Kennedy Center. Nora and Stephanie performed “The Unicorn” and much more. They also unfurled banners at their concert reading “Reinstate Queer Programming” and “Creativity at the Kennedy Center Must Not Be Suppressed.” We’re going to ask you to stay after the show and record some more of your music. I thank you so much for being with us.

Democracy Now! is produced with Mike Burke, Renée Feltz, Deena Guzder, Messiah Rhodes, Nermeen Shaikh, María Taracena, Anjali Kamat, Tami Woronoff, Charina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, John Hamilton, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud, Denis Moynihan, Safwat Nazzal. Our executive director is Julie Crosby. Special thanks to Becca Staley, Jon Randolph, Paul Powell, Mike Di Filippo, Miguel Nogueira. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Thank you.