The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, has signed a temporary lease agreement with Spirit Halloween to supplement funds for the institution’s two-year, $250 million dollar renovation project set to begin this summer.
Requesting anonymity out of fear of “being forced to wear a Ghostface costume and scare shoppers” this fall, an employee at the Kennedy Center told Hyperallergic that the board fielded the seasonal retailer’s tenancy as an alternative revenue source, as millions in federal funding originally intended for the capital project have since been allocated to and exhausted by the Department of War.
Per the employee, the board stipulated in the lease agreement that Spirit Halloween must sell Native American costumes, Hula skirts, Afro wigs, turbans, realistic prop guns, and other controversial products in an effort to shed the Center’s reputation for “woke” programming, as designated by President Donald Trump last year.
“Someone told me that the Spirit people were chill with the other stuff, but they said ‘no’ to the board’s request to sell KKK costumes,” the source alleged. They told Hyperallergic that lease is set to begin in the second week of September.
Neither the Kennedy Center nor Spencer Gifts (Spirit Halloween’s parent company) responded to Hyperallergic’s requests for comment.
Another source requesting anonymity suggested that the Kennedy Center board was already looking into securing temporary tenancy from a seasonal Christmas shop.
