The Kennedy Center’s board of directors voted unanimously Monday to close the storied performing arts institution for two years, with its doors shutting on July 4 and remaining dark through 2028 — capping more than a year of turmoil that drove dozens of performers to cancel appearances and sent ticket sales plunging.
The board, convened at the White House at President Donald Trump’s direction, also named Matt Floca as the center’s new CEO and executive director. Floca replaces Richard Grenell, a longtime Trump ally whose tenure — marked by aggressive confrontations with the arts community — triggered a mass withdrawal of artists and deepened the institution’s financial strain.
“We’re going to ensure it remains the finest performing arts facility of its kind anywhere in the world,” Trump told reporters ahead of the meeting.
A year of boycotts and empty seats
The closure vote comes as the Kennedy Center grapples with a crisis of its own making. When Trump ousted the center’s existing leadership and installed himself as board chairman in February 2025, the backlash from the arts community was immediate.
Hamilton producer Lin-Manuel Miranda withdrew the musical’s planned 2026 run, calling the decision “morally not complicated.” “The Kennedy Center has historically been a bipartisan birthplace for the best of our nation’s arts,” Miranda told The Advocate. “Trump’s administration politicized that when they fired the board and Trump named himself head of it.”
Actor Issa Rae and board member Shonda Rhimes also cut ties, while music consultant Ben Folds and soprano Renée Fleming resigned their advisory posts.
The situation escalated in December 2025, when the board voted to rename the institution the Trump Kennedy Center — physically adding the president’s name to the building’s facade. Scholars and lawmakers say the move requires an act of Congress, since the center was established by law as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy.
The renaming triggered a second, broader wave of cancellations.
Jazz musician Chuck Redd called off his annual Christmas Eve concert — a tradition he had hosted since 2006 — citing the name change directly. “When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd told the Associated Press.
New York jazz ensemble The Cookers followed days later, pulling their New Year’s Eve performances. Without naming Trump directly, the group wrote: “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice.”
What followed was a cascade into 2026. Grammy-winning banjoist Béla Fleck pulled out of a February performance with the National Symphony Orchestra, writing that performing at the center had “become charged and political.”
The Martha Graham Dance Company — whose founder was a 1979 Kennedy Center Honoree and a pioneer of American modern dance — withdrew from its spring centennial tour stop in April. The San Francisco Ballet canceled a planned May run. New York dance company Doug Varone and Dancers estimated a $40,000 loss from its cancellation, with Varone calling the decision “financially devastating but morally exhilarating.” Author Louise Penny and composer Philip Glass also withdrew. The Washington National Opera departed its longtime home at the center entirely.
Ticket sales dropped sharply in the months after Trump took control, and ratings for the televised Kennedy Center Honors — which Trump hosted himself — fell significantly.
By February 2026, CNN reported that the center’s new leadership had been unable to sign enough acts to mount a 2026-27 season at all.
Grenell responded to the backlash with threats rather than outreach. He warned Chuck Redd of a $1 million lawsuit, calling the cancellation a “political stunt.” He called Les Misérables cast members “vapid and intolerant” when they declined to perform for Trump, and dismissed diversity initiatives as “bulls—” in a direct email to guitarist Yasmin Williams.
The vote and what comes next
Monday’s closure vote was unanimous. Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio — a Democrat and ex officio board member through her congressional seat — attended Monday’s session after a federal judge ruled over the weekend that she was entitled to participate. The judge stopped short of requiring the board to allow her to vote, and she did not cast a ballot.
According to meeting minutes reviewed by CNN, the renovation’s stated justifications include aging HVAC systems, deteriorating electrical infrastructure, structural and concrete deficiencies, and failing life-safety systems. The documents describe a full shutdown as “the most efficient and cost-effective path to complete the work properly.”
The Washington Post reported the renovation could cost around $200 million, with Congress already securing $257 million in funding. Between 75 and 175 of the center’s roughly 300 employees face job impacts.
Experts warned the damage would be long-lasting. Deborah Borda, president emerita of the New York Philharmonic, submitted a sworn declaration stating that performers removed from the schedule “will find alternative venues and will not return quickly,” and that “audiences who fall out of the habit of attending will require years of effort and investment to recover.”
Floca, who takes over leadership of the institution, joined the Kennedy Center in January 2024 during the Biden administration, serving as vice president of facilities operations. He holds a bachelor’s degree in construction management from Louisiana State University.
It remains unclear where the National Symphony Orchestra — a permanent tenant — will perform during the closure. NSO executive director Jean Davidson announced earlier this month that she is stepping down to lead the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles.
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