The Kennedy Center is once again making headlines. President Donald Trump posted Sunday on social media that the venue will close for two years for renovations.
Trump said that the decision comes after a year-long review of the building’s facilities. “I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur, is to cease Entertainment Operations for an approximately two year period of time, with a scheduled Grand Reopening that will rival and surpass anything that has taken place with respect to such a Facility before,” Trump posted.
Trump said the venue will close on July 4 “in honor of the 250th Anniversary of our Country, whereupon we will simultaneously begin Construction of the new and spectacular Entertainment Complex.”
He said that the planned renovations “will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center, one that has been in bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years, and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment, far better than it has ever been before.”
Kennedy Center Controversy
In February 2025, Trump replaced many of The Kennedy Center’s board members and announced the new board had elected him chair. The news resulted in a wave of cancellations at the venue, including the hit musical Hamilton.
In December, The Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees voted to rename the venue the Trump-Kennedy Center. Despite outcry from some Democrats who said the name change would need Congressional approval, workers added Trump’s name to the building’s facade.
The name change resulted in more cancellations. For example, the American College Theatre Festival announced that it has suspended its 58-year affiliation with The Kennedy Center. And on January 9, The Washington National Opera also terminated its affiliation with the venue.
The late President John F. Kennedy’s family members have also spoken out in opposition to the name change, including his niece, Maria Shriver. In response to Trump’s news of the two-year closure, Shriver posted as if she were Trump on social media, saying “entertainers are canceling left and right, and I have determined that since the name change no one wants to perform there any longer. … It’s best for me to close this center down and rebuild a new center that will bear my name, which will surely get everybody to stop talking about the fact that everybody’s canceling… right?”
Feature image, avmedved/stock.adobe.com
