Posted on 02/01/2026 4:47:20 PM PST by Miami Rebel
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington will close for roughly two years to allow for extensive renovations, President Donald Trump said Sunday.
Trump said on social media he determined that the closure, slated for July 4, “will produce a much faster and higher quality result” as he seeks to rebuild the complex.
Trump said the move is pending approval by the center’s board, whose members were picked by the president.
“This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, 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,” he said, adding that financing is “fully in place.”
CNN has reached out to the Kennedy Center and the White House for additional details.
The president’s announcement comes as the nation’s preeminent performing arts center contends with a flood of cancellations that began soon after the board added the president’s name to the complex. Most recently, award-winning composer Philip Glass withdrew the June world premiere of his symphony based on Abraham Lincoln.
Trump has made reshaping the Kennedy Center a priority in his second term. His “One Big, Beautiful Bill” included $257 million for “necessary expenses for capital repair, restoration, maintenance backlog, and security structures.” Trump has touted restoration of the exterior marble, the interior chairs and “fully” renovated stages, which he said last summer will be complete within a year.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
They going to install indoor flush toilets so attendees don’t have to use porta-potties or go behind the trees?
Two years is nothing. The DMV has many underutilized venues that will benefit because of the closure which is desperately needed.
Just like everything else Trump will save it and make it much better.
https://www.trumpkennedycenter.org/
The smugs who “refuse to perform there” due to Trump annoy me incredibly.
I didn’t agree with Obama or Biden but I still respected the office.
To each their own, but that is horrible.
We have full-blown Communists as mayors of New York and LA, an insurrection in Minneapolis, many billions of dollars being defrauded from federal and state 'programs', millions of unvetted people living among us, and a national death wish being thrust upon us by the left. He isn't the only one whose freedom is on the line.
“with zero accountability.”
seems we had someone like that in office 2008-16, who still doesn’t take responsibility for the poison they injected throughout our country, and since.
Two years and $250M in financing is better than the regular government way of decades and billions getting permits, environmental impact studies, and studies to select the architects and contractors.
Trump may even personally pay for the whole thing with settlement money from his lawsuits against the media.
EC
There’s always been a stark contrast and hierarchy working in theater and the arts in any form in NYC. Commercial theater, on and off Broadway, always had hard-working staff. Your run-off-the-mill nonprofit staffers had easy jobs and hours, though they didn’t realize it. And Lincoln Center had the cushiest positions of all. (I’m of course not talking about union staff.)
We get it. You hate Trump.
Give a freepin' rest.
🥱
What are you,10? Grow up.
There are support groups for low impulse control issues.
“I don’t think the Kennedy Center has had much in the way of a facelift in years. It’s probably time.”
I’ve heard that it’s behind shabby. Fabrics are threadbare and stained. The place smells a little funky. Things are falling apart.
It’s important to preserve American culture.
Most of the Kennedy family was all pissed off and going to sue because of the Trump name along with theirs. Trump is going to practically rebuild the place so that it’s no longer an embarrassment.
The Kennedys could’ve let loose of some of their ill-gotten gain and spiffed up the place if they care so much about it. But they never did. It’s just a case of TDS now.
Sounds like Democrats. Shame on them for letting it get that way. I was last there when n the late 80s and it was still nice then.
It’s important to preserve American culture.
Very much agree.
While the rebuild is going on, some things that would have been there can be booked at Constitution Hall or smaller acts at Ford’s Theatre. Those were both quite nice, too. I hope they haven’t fallen into disrepair.
I’ve never been to NYC, even though I grew up in NYS. Some of it sounds great and exciting. But many aren’t attractive to me. Maybe some day...
then close it PERMANENTLY. What is this so hard to figure out? stick it to them! Instead dumbass makes it "bigger and beautiful-er" for them. How does this make sense?
Those are DC theaters that I mentioned. I lived in that area as a high schooler while Dad was stationed at the Pentagon and then the DC Navy Yard. I went to a lot of shows at the Kennedy Center, Constitution Hall and Ford’s Theatre with both parents or sometimes just one.
I went to NYC many times when my sister lived in Manhattan for several years. My visits were during Giuliani’s and Bloomberg’s days and NYC was wonderful then. I never wanted to live there, but I loved visiting and going to shows and restaurants, seeing sights and soaking up that amazing energy.
I don’t think I’d go there now. The Democrats have ruined it.
P.S. I think upstate NY is beautiful in the spring and summer and I’m betting it is in the fall.
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