Kennedy Center board set to vote on whether to move forward with closure
[August 13, 2026]
By STEVEN SLOAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Kennedy Center's board is expected to meet
Thursday to consider plans for the performing arts venue's future after
a federal judge blocked an earlier move for a two-year closure that
would allow for substantial renovations.
Ahead of the meeting, the Kennedy Center's management said it would
present the board with three approaches for consideration.
The options would include a complete closure or a partial closure that
would allow “some continued public access and limited programming in
spaces unaffected” by the work. A third option would “consider a highly
limited series of phased closures to address only the Center’s most
serious infrastructure needs while scheduling and maintaining a full
slate of programming.”
In blocking earlier plans for closure, U.S. District Judge Christopher
Cooper ruled the board's March 16 vote backing the move appeared
“ill-informed and seemingly preordained.” In moving forward, the board,
which is largely made up of President Donald Trump's allies, may face
pressure to prove they've thoroughly considered their options.
During Trump’s second term, the Kennedy Center has become an unlikely —
and highly visible — metaphor of presidential power. While he largely
ignored the institution during his first round in Washington, Trump
moved quickly to oust the institution’s leadership when he returned to
office in January 2025 and replaced it with a board of trustees that
named him chairman. His name was quickly added to the building, a move
that Cooper also declared illegal.
Trump’s name came down from the building in June but the area where it
once stood is now covered by a massive tarp. Cooper has asked the
Kennedy Center for updates on how long the tarp is expected to stay in
place.
Trump's push to remake the nation's capital
The Kennedy Center moves are part of Trump's broader push to reshape the
physical landscape of the nation's capital in ways that have few modern
parallels.
He demolished the East Wing of the White House and is building a
controversial ballroom in its place, though an appeals court ruled last
week that construction should stop because Congress didn't approve the
project. Trump has said he will take the case to the Supreme Court.
His remodel of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has also stumbled
after algae returned and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro refuted his claims
that a vandal was responsible for the damage.
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The exterior of the Kennedy Center is seen, Friday, July 31, 2026,
in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Meanwhile, Trump is planning extensive renovations of a golf course
in East Potomac Park, which could significantly reduce the public’s
access to running and biking paths. He is also moving forward with a
triumphal arch that will sit near Arlington National Cemetery.
Trump has derided the Kennedy Center as “rusted, rotted, and rat and
bug infested” and threatened to hand the building over to Congress
after Cooper rejected the closure and the addition of the
president’s name to the building.
The institution’s leadership has argued that it’s in genuine need of
repair and updating.
Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s executive director and chief
operating officer, guided a group of journalists through the
building in April, highlighting severe water damage that he said
corroded steel in some places as thin as tissue paper. Some pieces
of equipment, including several 800-ton chillers that help cool the
building, are decades old and in need of replacement.
At the time, Floca said he considered doing the repairs individually
but insisted it was his recommendation to Trump to close the
building and move forward with the renovation all at once.
“When the president asked: ‘How do you make these projects the best?
How do you make them really excellent and deliver them efficiently?’
my recommendation was you close the building and you do everything
over a definite period of time, two years,” he said.
More recently, the legal battles became the subject of barbs and
jokes as comedian Bill Maher accepted the Mark Twain Prize for
American Humor in late June. At the start of the program, Pamella
Roland DeVos, a Kennedy Center trustee appointed by Trump, described
the institution as a “national cultural center open not just for
some but for every American patron who wants to experience the
greatest art and expression the world has to offer.”
“The responsibility that comes with it is one our board takes very
seriously,” she said.
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