President Trump on Sunday announced that the Kennedy Center would be closed for a two-year restoration beginning in July.
“The Trump Kennedy Center will close on July 4th, 2026, in honor of the 250th Anniversary of our Country, whereupon we will simultaneously begin Construction of the new and spectacular Entertainment Complex,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Financing is completed, and fully in place!”
The president said that a one-time, two-year closure of the facility would be the “fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur” as opposed to partial closures for construction that would have to work in and around the performances.
In the post, however, he said that this plan would be “totally subject to board approval.”
President of the Kennedy Center Richard Grenell, a close Trump ally, made a post on the social platform X on Sunday saying he was grateful for Trump’s “visionary leadership.”
“I am also grateful to Congress for appropriating an historic $257M to finally address decades of deferred maintenance and repairs at the Trump Kennedy Center,” Grenell said.
“Our goal has always been to not only save and permanently preserve the Center, but to make it the finest Arts Institution in the world. It desperately needs this renovation and temporarily closing the Center just makes sense – it will enable us to better invest our resources, think bigger and make the historic renovations more comprehensive. It also means we will be finished faster.”
The Hill has reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment.
In December, the board voted to rename the center “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Also in December, Trump made history as the first president to emcee the institution’s marquee event, the Kennedy Center Honors. The move to host the Honors came months after Trump overhauled the arts hub named for the 35th president, accusing it of being too “woke” while booting several bipartisan members of its board and installing himself as its chairman.
Throughout his first term in office, Trump bucked tradition and skipped the Kennedy Center Honors.
Since the decision to rename the center with the addition of the president’s name, multiple cancellations have come in from artists and groups recently scheduled to perform.
Composer Phillip Glass just last week canceled a performance scheduled with the National Symphony Orchestra in June. Artists including opera singer Renée Fleming, banjo player Béla Fleck, Doug Varone and Dancers, Kristy Lee and others have canceled shows at the center.
Ticket sales have also declined since Trump took control of the center’s operations, according to an analysis from The Washington Post in October.
Trump’s announcement of the potential temporary closure came just days after he joined Melania Trump on Thursday at the Kennedy Center for the world premiere of the first lady’s documentary film, “Melania.”
