The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, is yet to announce when tickets for its annual Honors ceremony will go on sale, with the delay reportedly linked to plans to replace its existing ticketing provider with Ticketmaster.
The ceremony, which has been part of Washington’s entertainment calendar since 1978, is scheduled for December 7 at Capital One Arena. This year’s recipients of the prestigious honour are songwriter Paul Anka, music producer David Foster, actor Andy Garcia, playwright David Mamet and country music singer Barbara Mandrell.
Traditionally, tickets for the December event are highly sought after, with major donors given early access during the summer. However, as of November 11, the Kennedy Center’s website only provided a form for people seeking information about ticket purchases.
The institution did not respond to questions from NPR about the delay or when sales would commence.
Current and former employees attributed the situation to the centre’s plan to move its ticketing operations from Tessitura, a nonprofit platform it has used for decades, to Ticketmaster. They spoke anonymously, citing concerns about possible retaliation and the impact on their careers in arts administration.
The proposed arrangement has also raised questions about Richard Grenell, who headed the Kennedy Center when the Ticketmaster deal was being negotiated. Grenell was simultaneously a board member of Live Nation, the company that owns Ticketmaster, and received payments and shares for his position.
Grenell was appointed Kennedy Center president in February 2025 after US President Donald Trump became the institution’s chairman. In May of the same year, he joined Live Nation’s board.
Company disclosures submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission showed that Grenell earned $260,205 from his board position in 2025. He also received 102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,200 when he joined.
Meanwhile, the Kennedy Center’s latest tax records showed that Grenell received no salary for his role as president.
The centre declined to discuss his simultaneous appointments or his financial interests in Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Grenell also did not respond to NPR’s attempts to obtain his comments.
Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School professor whose work focuses on government ethics, said the arrangement could create a conflict because Grenell owed professional responsibilities to both organisations.
“This is literally a conflict of interest,” Bruffault said.
“If you have a duty of loyalty to an entity in which you’re an officer – if you sit on the board and at the same time you have a financial stake in another entity that does business with, and benefits from, the business with the entity on whose board you sit – that’s a problem.”
Kennedy Center spokesperson PJ Elliott maintained that the institution’s consideration of Ticketmaster began in 2024, before Grenell’s appointment and during the Biden administration.
Although Elliott declined to explain the reasons for the change or provide a timeline for its implementation, he said the centre had reviewed its existing system and decided to pursue another option.
“The Center began evaluating Ticketmaster in the spring of 2024 and determined it had outgrown its previous ticketing system. The agreement followed standard procurement review,” he wrote in an email to NPR.
He also declined to address questions about Grenell’s position at Live Nation and the possibility of a conflict of interest.
However, two other sources familiar with the institution’s operations, including a current senior employee and a former staff member, challenged the claim that Ticketmaster had been seriously considered in 2024.
The former senior executive told NPR: “I was against having Ticketmaster at the Kennedy Center. We had great ticketing staff and a system with Tessitura that gave us the capacity and ‘intelligence’ to manage our own data and customers. Ticketmaster could say they were trying to talk to us, but they absolutely were not negotiating with us.”
Tessitura was created by the Metropolitan Opera in 1995 and has since become a widely used platform among nonprofit arts organisations. More than 750 cultural institutions across the world currently use its services.
Steve Jacobson, founder of JCA, a consultancy that helps nonprofit arts organisations improve their revenue, said Ticketmaster was more suited to commercial entertainment venues and large events.
“But it’s one-dimensional, and it’s really designed for commercial presenters,” he said.
He explained that Tessitura offers a broader range of services beyond ticket purchases, allowing organisations to coordinate fundraising, membership programmes, customer relations and educational activities through one system.
“It’s a unified product that has not just ticket sales in it, but also helps nonprofit arts organizations manage their fundraising, membership, customer service, education. You’ve got an all-in-one system.”
Jacobson warned that replacing those integrated services could require substantial additional spending. He also stressed that nonprofit institutions depend on several income streams, making it important to maintain a central system for managing supporters and patrons.
“And having it all in one place where you can actually manage all of your outreach, and understand who your patrons are, is really important,” he said.
The Ticketmaster negotiations also took place during a period of leadership changes at the Kennedy Center. Matt Floca took over as president after Grenell’s departure in March. Before his appointment, Floca had managed the centre’s facilities department but had no experience in artistic leadership, fundraising or arts administration.
He subsequently turned to Rick Canny, who was appointed artistic director last month, for guidance on the institution’s creative and commercial activities.
Canny, a California-based talent agent, built his career working with rock performers from the 1980s and 1990s, including ZZ Top and former Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. He began advising the Kennedy Center in April 2025 and was involved in organising the Kennedy Center Honors and the Mark Twain Prize.
In a message to employees last month, Floca outlined the responsibilities Canny would assume within the organisation.
“Rick will advise me and the broader leadership team on artistic strategy, business practices, presenting and talent curation, ticketing and pricing models, media opportunities and programming sponsorships,” he wrote.
NPR also obtained a March email Canny sent to the centre’s then-chief financial officer, Donna Arduin Kauranen, in which he sought authority over programming, marketing, ticketing and publicity.
“I work across all of these areas. But I need to be empowered to execute all the plans,” he wrote.
Canny further claimed in the correspondence that he had been instrumental in arranging the switch to Ticketmaster.
“I’ve been advising on this for almost a year. I’ve shaped many or most of the terms of the deal and I’m reviewing the final agreement tonight,” he told Kauranen.
Current and former employees who spoke to NPR argued that negotiations of that nature would normally fall under the responsibility of the institution’s president rather than its artistic director.
Canny also blamed the Kennedy Center’s unionised box office employees for obstructing the proposed partnership. In the email, he wrote: “The unions got in the way, and they Ticketmaster could no longer make money with us. With care and time, they can come back.”
Earlier in the autumn, the Kennedy Center dismissed its box office employees represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), following the closure of its main building for Trump’s planned two-year renovation.
Ticketmaster’s proposed involvement comes amid longstanding criticism of the company over additional charges, unclear fees and its dominant position in the live entertainment market.
Live Nation controlled about 80 per cent of primary concert ticket sales in the United States earlier this year and has continued expanding its presence in ticket resales.
The US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster earlier this year. The case was settled in March for $280m.
However, attorneys general from 33 states and the District of Columbia rejected the settlement and continued with a separate federal case.
In April, a jury found that Live Nation and Ticketmaster had operated as a monopoly, harming customers and overcharging ticket buyers across the country. Before the verdict, Live Nation had denied the allegations, insisting in previous statements to NPR that competition within the market was stronger than ever.
