The recent closure events expose President Donald Trump’s true intentions and highlight potential losses for the arts community.

On the occasion of the Kennedy Center’s opening night in 1971, a memorable piece comes to mind from 1960. This orchestral work is titled “Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima,” created by the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The composition is an intense expression of grief. It features frantic cries, clusters of tones, and relentless noise which evoke the emotions found in Franz Kline’s paintings or Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl.” Examples from “Howl” include, “Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!”