We Need a Revival of Highbrow Culture
By Kate Marland
The last few weeks of the new administration have been filled with headlines heard round the world. The one that caught my eye was Trump saying about the Kennedy Center, “I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”
To me, this sounds like the beginning of a much-needed revival of the performing arts. Simply listen to a few bars of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, or remember that there is a full-length opera dedicated to Nixon’s visit to China. There is a long history of American excellence in the performing arts.
Classical music and opera have always been elevated pastimes. For 100+ years in America, attending opera or symphony performances carried with it a requisite aura of prestige and behavioral expectation that young people in 2025 are turning to again for inspiration. You see this in the rising nostalgic interest in “country club” aesthetics, Ralph Lauren, and galas and balls.
Why not opera and classical music too? It is especially ideal for young people craving a social scene and the opportunity to dabble in refinement of dress and behavior. Like most cultural institutions, the performing arts was ceded to the Left long ago, assaulting music and dance with progressive ideology. This field is increasingly propped up by government subsidy, run by boards filled with tired, unimaginative bureaucrats who have realized that the way to get to payday is to adhere to an ever-growing list of DEI requirements.
You would be hard-pressed to find any theatre these days that is not hosting some version of Drag Queen Story Hour for children, hosting nights reserved exclusively for patrons of certain races and their friends, or featuring “new music” funded by grants that require the composers or creators to fit DEI criteria. The Kennedy Center still lists as talent Lil Miss Hot Mess, who serves on the board of Drag Queen Story Hour and is the author of the children's books If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It and The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.
It’s become almost a joke the way a symphony concert is now programmed. At some point in the past 10 years, we have all collectively agreed that attending any symphony concert will necessitate sitting through 10-20 minutes of the latest progressive propaganda. Gone is the traditional Overture-Concerto-Symphony structure. But even our leftist cultural masters only pretend at compliance, as the DEI creations are typically reserved for a less prominent position in the show. Artistic Directors and CEOs of these organizations know deep down that the only reason they are filling seats in their halls is because there is still an interest in hearing Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn.
And I’m not trying to write off all new music as woke garbage — I’ve heard and performed some that have genuine merit. The issue arises when it becomes a sort of toll that one must pay to be able to enjoy sublime Sibelius or Dvorak. When you reflect on the history of classical music, there are obvious names that rise to the top. Shoving the latest drivel produced by government down audience members’ throats does nothing to encourage artistic appreciation.
We just need to devote as much care to the performing arts as we do to the other institutions captured by the Left. Leftists are obsessed with destroying history, beauty, and culture. It’s no wonder that the performing arts have largely lost their traditional audiences! Appreciators of Schubert are not likely to be found amongst those focused on denigrating masterpieces and substituting them with race-baiting and gender-bending cacophonies.
This is why it’s so critical that we reclaim the performing arts for conservatism or at least free it from the teeth of the Left. Conservatives know we must win the culture war, and yet we pay less attention to the classical performing arts, which are rooted in tradition and decorum and appeal to the divine more than their modern counterparts.
I am not saying we need to start funneling billions of taxpayer dollars into these institutions to correct their mistakes. But (and I’m going to hold your hand while I say this), there is a role for federal funding in promoting national pride and culture, and this should be spent on recapturing the performing arts. For a country that has a deep history of musical excellence, this is something worth spending time and effort on.
Kate Marland studied music performance in college before pursuing graduate studies in fashion history, where her research culminated in a project titled “What Not to Wear to the Opera”. She can be found on instagram @katemarland and X @kateEmarland.