Kennedy Center board votes to close for two years during renovations

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Mon 16 Mar 2026 16.16 EDT
Last modified on Mon 16 Mar 2026 16.18 EDT


The Kennedy Center board of trustees unanimously voted on Monday in favor of a controversial plan to temporarily shutter the arts institution for renovations, rubber-stamping a $257m project initiated by Donald Trump to remake the arts institution in line with other grand plans for Washington DC.

In a statement, the center said it had voted for “a comprehensive revitalization project” lasting two years that would follow an Independence Day celebration in July with “a grand re-opening to follow”.

The notice added that the board’s decision to pause operations would “allow for the most comprehensive and efficient renovation effort, setting the stage for a revitalized national cultural and entertainment complex for all Americans to enjoy”.

“From day one, our mission was to make the Trump Kennedy Center a place every American could be proud of, and this renovation is the fulfillment of that promise,” outgoing president Richard Grenell said in the statement. “What comes next will be worth the wait.” Earlier Monday, as the meeting of trustees began, Trump said: “You have to close it.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/16/kennedy-center-closing-renovation-trump

[Blues Heron]

1. They are so evil with this takeover. He's going to take it down to the steel skeleton. After looting it

[Easterncedar]

2. There isn't enough sage in the world to purify this horror

Last edited Tue Mar 17, 2026, 12:48 AM - Edit history (1)

[pandr32]

3. This makes my heart hurt.

It was built to honor a fallen president--not him, though I wish he would hurry up and 'fall'.

[wcmagumba]

4. His evil name will be pried and and sledge hammered from the Kennedy Center wall when TSF is finally gone...

Whatever arches and statues he has installed throughout DC and other places will need to be removed and sent to a dump...

[sheshe2]

5. It is NOT Trump Kennedy Center.

Get the hell out of Boston, trump, we don't want you here.

“From day one, our mission was to make the Trump Kennedy Center a place every American could be proud of, and this renovation is the fulfillment of that promise,” outgoing president Ric Grenell said in the statement. “What comes next will be worth the wait.”

Trump’s civic improvements program has so far included demolishing the White House’s East Wing to make away for a 100,000 sq ft ballroom, to be called the White House State Ballroom, and digging up the Rose Garden for an entertaining area where ladies wont risk sinking their heels into the lawn.

[erronis]

7. Or DC!

Where the Kennedy Center is located.

[erronis]

6. Closed For Further Desecrations

(Anything we can do to tarnish the Kennedy name.
Naming the most crazy one as Sec. of Unhealth was also brilliant.)

[sinkingfeeling]

8. R.I.P. Kennedy Center. You were a bright star for the arts.

[miyazaki]

9. How could it possibly cost over a quarter billion?

Of course I know it's a stupid effing' question anymore.

[maxsolomon]

14. 250 million to remodel an Arts Center is realistic.

Hey, it's less than 2 F-22 Raptors.

[miyazaki]

17. It's very realistic if they are remodeling their bank accounts.

[maxsolomon]

18. Yeah, no one has any idea what the "remodel" scope is going to be.

There's definitely room for grift.

Trump is likely to paste a Neo-Classical veneer over the Edward Durrell Stone original.

[twodogsbarking]

10. The workers were all deported.

[Martin68]

11. The Kennedy Center and its programs will have to be re-built from the ground up once Dump is out of office. A national

treasure is being destroyed by this cretinous boor.

[Blumancru]

12. They are really closing for two years

Because most artists won’t play there, and you can only have so many Lee Greenwood and Kid Rock shows before even the MAGAts won’t show up.

[GenThePerservering]

15. It's just an attempt to face save

Another reason butt-kissing Grennell resigned.

[travelingthrulife]

13. How does he have the power to renovate this building, Congress?

[LudwigPastorius]

16. ...because he took over the Board of Trustees and installed a bunch of stooges with him as the chairman.