PRESS RELEASE: The Kennedy Center's Effect on Esocrypt
PRESS RELEASENEWS • EYE ON ESOCRYPT
Gigi Morrison
2/13/20253 min read
2/12/2025 1:03:45pm ESOCRYPT Guild Meeting Hall
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The John F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts was a highly esteemed establishment within the world of not just the arts, but broadcast and streaming as well. It was built to resemble a partnership between public and private institutions to give artists and performers a space to showcase their talent. However, as we commonly see, this partnership between private interests and money combined with under-reliance on true public works and institutions, creates a tool to serve elites and punch down on members of our neighborhoods who cannot defend themselves. The one true guarantee of creating art is the ability to be seen, and forcing people to be unseen is itself an act of violence.
The Esocrypt Artist Guild stands by our artists and community, especially those who are LGBTQ+, Undocumented, or currently targeted with racial or religious hate. Your voices are valid and will be heard.
Our committee is troubled by the United States President's decision to appoint himself the sole head of such an institution. Such a discredit to a blueprint of how the government handles art and humanities. Other members though, point out that the idea of such an institution with its sole purpose of pushing national pride through art shouldn't necessarily be something hard to discredit in the first place. The Kennedy Center's appeal is in an elitist narrative, something that from the start mimicked the opulence of oligarchical systems, bringing the rich in and leaving the poor out. An art institution with this idea can never reasonably turn around and become a more inclusive institution overnight, nor in maybe a century, inevitably leaving out many of the common artists, whose job is to shape and refine larger art movements. These omissions though only serve as a slow poison, compared to the knife repeatedly inserted into the chest of the Center that was its ideological end.
A common thread of conversation was the mention of the late President John F Kennedy, whose name adorns the center. JFK was someone who believed in the rights and liberties of what America stood for, despite listening quite deeply to the narratives his circles told him about Communism and the rise of Authoritarianism.
Another was PBS, a service that came a little over ten years later. Constantly attacked by Republicans, the Public Broadcasting Service was created to bring children's education to low-income areas, as well as general knowledge of culture and science for both kids and adults. It is not hard to see the Kennedy Center as the predecessor to PBS, as a play is to a movie. Differences began as PBS remained dedicated to showcasing artists, educators, and more. With a limited budget, PBS secured entire studios such as the Jim Henson Company to help them create entertaining programs, taking it upon themselves to make art with a message.
Esocrypt will continue to release new content, as well as keep commission bookings for 2025 open. We love and value our community, and helping businesses grow with advertisements or social media content has been something our artists have valued.
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COMMITTEE COMMENTS
River V.C. • Esocrypt Guild Member/CCO Esocrypt Entertainment
"My education in performing arts has always been gearing me toward places like The Kennedy Center. Esocrypt was made in ideological opposition to the idea that artists need to be validated by large institutions that can profit from them. I think it goes without saying we have learned since then how art and government should intersect."
Royin Yap • Esocrypt Guild Member/CEO Esocrypt Entertainment
"I feel terrible for the artists who canceled their bookings due to this takeover. They're brave, and I hope that one day they get to find a stage that they deem worthy of performing on, every artist deserves that much."
Gigi Morrison • Esocrypt Guild Chairman
"If the Esocrypt Guild is to ever grow to the size of the Kennedy Center, It would likely be the single greatest resource for finding real independent artists. Imagine being able to, with a few clicks, find the artists that you would have to search hours for, the great artists that fall between the cracks. But that's not in our future. The concessions needed to make it to a position like that would be fundamentally against what we are aiming to build."
