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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Kennedy Center will move forward with a two-year closure of the sprawling performing arts venue to allow for substantial renovation work, while some outdoor programming may continue, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The decision, made Thursday by a board largely composed of President Donald Trump’s allies, amounts to a doubling down of the institution’s initial plan so changes could be made that leaders said were necessary for safety. Critics have raised concerns that Trump could move ahead with more drastic renovations as part of his second-term effort to remodel Washington in his image.
The two people were not authorized to publicly discuss the board’s action before an official announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in May blocked a closure that was set to take effect July 5. It was not immediately clear whether the board’s move would prompt another round of legal challenges. Cooper had ruled that the board’s March 16 vote backing the move appeared “ill-informed and seemingly preordained.”
In moving forward, board members may face pressure to prove that they have thoroughly considered their options.
The Kennedy Center’s management had said before the meeting that it would present the board with three approaches for consideration, including a complete closure or a partial closure that would allow “some continued public access and limited programming in spaces unaffected” by the work. An outdoor area at the institution, known as the Reach, could host some events during the closure.
A third option would have allowed “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.”
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.
The Republican’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.
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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