Tarped Fountains, Murky Pools: What Soboroff Found at Trump's DC
NBC's Jacob Soboroff documents a transformed Washington DC — tarped Kennedy Center signs, murky reflecting pools, and a capital reshaped by Trump's second term.
In brief
NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff walked through Washington DC and found the evidence written in plain sight — a tarp draped over Kennedy Center signage, a reflecting pool gone murky, and a capital city that looks and feels different than it did before President Donald Trump's return to the White House. His tour, documented for NBC News, captures something Washingtonians have been watching unfold block by block: a federal government actively redrawing the cultural and physical landscape of its own front yard.
🗝 Key Takeaways
NBC's Jacob Soboroff documented visible physical changes across Washington DC tied to Trump administration priorities and budget decisions.
The Kennedy Center — already reshaped by Trump's 2025 takeover of its board — now bears tarped signage, a symbol of ongoing institutional transition.
The National Mall's reflecting pools show signs of deferred maintenance, raising questions about federal stewardship of public landmarks.
DC's arts and culture community is navigating a funding and identity crisis as federal influence over major institutions intensifies.
The changes extend beyond aesthetics: they reflect policy decisions that affect thousands of DC residents, workers, and visitors annually.
The Kennedy Center Under Tarps: A Cultural Landmark in Transition
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — the Foggy Bottom institution that has anchored DC's high-culture identity since 1971 — has been at the center of one of the most consequential arts-policy fights in the capital's recent memory. When Trump moved in early 2025 to restructure the Kennedy Center's board and install new leadership, it sent shockwaves through the arts community from Shaw to Capitol Hill. Soboroff's tour finds that transition written literally on the building itself, with tarped signage marking a center in visible flux.
The Kennedy Center draws roughly 2 million visitors per year and generates an estimated $885 million in economic activity for the Washington region, according to its own impact data. Programming cancellations and leadership changes that began in 2025 continued into 2026, leaving arts workers, patrons, and resident companies like the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera in an uncertain position. For a city where the arts sector employs tens of thousands, that uncertainty has a material cost.
Check our DC Power Players Index for ongoing coverage of who holds influence over the capital's cultural institutions.
Murky Reflecting Pools: Deferred Maintenance or a Policy Statement?
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — one of the most photographed public spaces in America — appeared clouded during Soboroff's documented tour, part of a broader pattern of deferred upkeep across National Mall landmarks. The National Park Service, which manages the Mall's 1,000-plus acres, has operated under a maintenance backlog estimated at over $22 billion nationally, a figure that has grown as staffing and budgets face new pressures under the current administration's federal workforce reductions.
For DC residents, the Mall is not a tourist destination — it's a backyard. Runners circle the Tidal Basin before dawn. Families picnic between the Washington Monument and the Capitol on summer weekends. Southwest DC neighbors walk its perimeter year-round. When its fountains go cloudy and its grounds show the signs of deferred care, it's not an abstraction — it's the lived environment of a city of 700,000 people.
The National Parks Conservation Association has tracked staffing cuts and maintenance concerns across federal park properties, including those in DC, as the administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiatives targeted federal employment across agencies including the National Park Service.
Washington DC exists in a constitutional paradox: it is simultaneously the seat of federal power and a city of 700,000 residents who have limited say over the federal land that makes up roughly a third of its geography. When the White House reshapes the Kennedy Center's identity or the National Park Service faces staffing shortfalls, Washingtonians don't get a vote on those decisions — they just live with the consequences. Soboroff's tour makes visible what residents already know: the line between federal policy and daily DC life is thinner than anywhere else in the country.
The cultural implications run deep. The Kennedy Center's programming has historically served not just Georgetown dinner-party crowds but students, families, and community groups from Anacostia to Petworth through its Millennium Stage free performances and education programs. Changes to its leadership and mission ripple outward far beyond the Foggy Bottom address. Explore our DC Politics Guide 2026 for context on how federal decisions shape the everyday capital.
DC's Arts Community Responds to Federal Pressure
The changes Soboroff documented don't exist in a vacuum. Across DC's arts ecosystem — from the Smithsonian Institution, which faced its own funding pressures in 2025-2026, to smaller organizations in Brookland and Columbia Heights — federal decisions are forcing adaptation. Grant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, always a target in budget negotiations, came under renewed scrutiny. Nonprofit arts organizations that depend on federal or federally-adjacent support found themselves recalibrating fundraising strategies and programming calendars.
At the same time, DC's independent arts scene has shown its characteristic resilience. Venues like Songbyrd in Adams Morgan, the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street NE, and the many gallery spaces in the NoMa corridor continue operating — some with renewed urgency, framing their programming explicitly as a counterweight to what's happening at the federal level. The tension between institutional crisis and grassroots vitality defines DC's cultural moment in 2026.
See our full Best of DC guide for the venues and experiences defining Washington's independent culture right now.
What Soboroff's Tour Reveals About Power and Place
Journalism like Soboroff's walking tour performs a function that policy documents cannot: it grounds abstract federal decisions in specific, observable physical reality. A tarp on a building. A pool that's gone green. A plaza that feels different than it did a year ago. These are not metaphors — they are data points about how political power reshapes the lived environment of a capital city.
For Washingtonians, the significance cuts in multiple directions. The city's identity has always been entangled with the federal government — its economy, its geography, its demographics all shaped by proximity to power. But DC's residents have also built something distinct: a city with its own neighborhoods, its own institutions, its own culture that exists alongside and sometimes in tension with the federal presence. What's visible on the Mall and at the Kennedy Center right now is a stress test of how much that independent identity can hold when the government that sits at the city's center decides to remake its most prominent shared spaces.
Follow our Culture coverage and Politics desk for ongoing reporting on how federal decisions shape Washington's daily life.
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FAQ: Trump's Washington, the Kennedy Center, and DC's Changing Landscape
Q: What did Jacob Soboroff find when he toured Washington DC? A: NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff documented visible physical changes across Washington DC tied to the Trump administration, including tarped signage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and murky reflecting pools on the National Mall, reflecting both institutional transitions and deferred federal maintenance.
Q: What happened to the Kennedy Center under Trump? A: Beginning in early 2025, the Trump administration restructured the Kennedy Center's board of directors, installing new leadership aligned with the administration's cultural priorities. The moves triggered programming cancellations and significant uncertainty for resident companies including the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera.
Q: Why are the National Mall reflecting pools murky? A: The National Park Service, which manages the National Mall, operates under a national maintenance backlog estimated at over $22 billion. Federal workforce reductions driven by DOGE-related initiatives have further strained the agency's capacity to maintain DC's most iconic public spaces, including the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Q: How are DC's arts organizations responding to federal pressure? A: Larger institutions like the Smithsonian and the Kennedy Center are navigating direct federal oversight changes, while smaller independent organizations in neighborhoods like Adams Morgan, H Street NE, and Brookland are recalibrating programming and fundraising. Many are positioning themselves as pillars of independent DC cultural identity amid institutional uncertainty.
Q: How does the Kennedy Center's transformation affect ordinary DC residents? A: The Kennedy Center serves not only high-profile patrons but also students, families, and community members through programs like its free daily Millennium Stage performances and arts education initiatives. Leadership changes and programming cuts affect those audiences — and the thousands of arts workers employed by the institution and its affiliated organizations.
Q: Where can I follow ongoing coverage of DC's cultural and political changes? A: Washington DC Magazine's Culture desk and Politics desk provide ongoing coverage of how federal decisions reshape life in the capital. Visit our DC Politics Guide 2026 and DC Power Players Index for context and analysis.
The bottom line: Jacob Soboroff's tour of Trump's Washington puts a camera on what DC residents already see every day — a capital city whose most prominent public spaces and cultural institutions are being reshaped by federal decisions made without a local vote. From a tarped Kennedy Center to a clouded reflecting pool on the Mall, the physical evidence of transformation is visible, specific, and worth documenting. Washington DC Magazine will continue tracking what changes, what holds, and what it means for the 700,000 people who call this city home.
What to Watch Next: Keep an eye on the Kennedy Center's programming calendar through the remainder of 2026 — the roster of resident companies and announced seasons will signal whether the institution's artistic identity is being preserved or fundamentally redirected. Watch also for National Park Service budget decisions in the next federal appropriations cycle, which will determine whether deferred maintenance on the Mall deepens or begins to be addressed. And track DC's independent arts organizations: the choices they make about programming and funding in 2026 will reveal how the city's cultural community intends to define itself in a federal city being remade from the top down.
Reporting drawn from: MS NOW / NBC News. Washington DC Magazine provides original analysis, DC-specific context, and editorial perspective beyond the source material.This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by WDCM editorial staff. Washington DC Magazine is committed to accuracy, transparency, and editorial integrity. If you believe any information in this article requires correction, please contact editor@washingtondcmagazine.com.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
