Sandy Weiswasser still leads visitors through the halls of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, even though the building now stands largely empty. As one of a handful of dedicated volunteers, she continues to give tours despite the dramatic cutbacks that have left the once-thriving institution a shadow of its former self.
The Kennedy Center has undergone significant reductions in recent times, with much of its programming and operations stripped away. Yet Weiswasser and her fellow volunteers persist in their mission to show people what remains, clinging to the belief that the building and its history still matter.
The tours themselves have become a peculiar exercise in institutional devotion. Weiswasser walks visitors through spaces that once bustled with activity and now sit mostly dormant. It is a stubborn act of faith in a place that has lost much of its cultural prominence and financial resources.
For Weiswasser, the work appears driven by something deeper than obligation. She has become a keeper of memory for a Washington landmark, determined not to let it fade into complete obscurity even as visitor numbers dwindle. Her presence on those tours is a quiet statement that the Kennedy Center remains worthy of attention, regardless of its current state.
The volunteer corps that remains is small but committed. They represent a particular kind of civic attachment, the sort that survives institutional decline through sheer personal conviction rather than institutional support.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Weiswasser's determination to keep showing people this hollow building says more about Washington's nostalgia than its ability to sustain its own institutions."
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