Updated August 14, 2026 at 9:26 AM PDT
On Thursday, the Kennedy Center board voted for a second time to shut down most of the arts complex for two years of renovations. The project is estimated to cost $250 million and if it gets approval from a federal judge, it could have a sizable impact on audiences and artists alike. The board is also trying to add Trump's name back on the building for a second time, after a federal judge ordered its removal.
Instead of naming the complex after Trump, according to the latest plan, the signage would instead say that the center was "restored and renovated by President Donald J. Trump."
NPR has requested a copy of the proposal from the Kennedy Center, but did not receive a response. An individual who was briefed on the board meeting and renovation plans confirmed the details and the vote to NPR, but is anonymous because they are not authorized to speak to the media. The proposal and the potential name change were first reported by The New York Times.
"Today's sham meeting makes clear the Trump-appointed Board of the Kennedy Center believes it is above the law. What happened today was nothing more than a rubber stamp on a decision the President made months ago that the Board already tried to effectuate without doing proper due diligence," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat and ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board said in an emailed statement after the vote.
Already, the Kennedy Center's public profile has shifted. Last December, when the board tried to rename the complex the "Trump Kennedy Center" and Trump's name was added to the front entry as well as the center's public-facing materials (including its web site, signage, program booklets and merchandise), many marquee artists canceled, including the composer Philip Glass and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Many performers said that the arts center had become politicized.
What does the new proposal include, and who's overseeing it?
The proposed project includes structural repairs, new marble floors, nearly $12 million in "acoustical improvements" and a plan to temporarily move the famed, eight-foot bronze bust of Kennedy that sits in the center's main foyer. None of the current board members have any known expertise in acoustics, performing or presenting the kind of performing arts — including classical music, dance and jazz – that have been staple programming at the Kennedy Center for decades. The only artist on the board is a close Trump ally, country music singer Lee Greenwood.
It is also unclear whether the construction management firm named in the plans, JLL, has any experience with arts venues that feature unamplified performances, such as the orchestras, solo and chamber instrumentalists, opera companies and dance ensembles that have comprised much of the Kennedy Center's programming for decades. NPR reached out to JLL for comment, but has not received a reply. Additionally, it is unclear how many companies bid on the construction contract, or how the firm was selected; NPR has reached out multiple times to ask the Kennedy Center for comment on the newest plans, but has not received a response.
According to the board's current proposal, the target date for a reopening is summer 2028. Prominent arts administrators who will not comment publicly due to fears of retaliation or because they were not authorized to speak to the media have told NPR that once a performing arts venue or organization shuts its doors – even for a brief renovation — it's usually a hard road back to solid footing; it can be very difficult to coax audiences back, once they've lost the habit of attending.
There's an additional consideration, too: the touring schedules of top-level international performers, the kinds of solo artists and orchestras who were previously engaged at the Kennedy Center, are generally set years in advance. Renovations are frequently delayed, so by the time the arts complex is actually ready or nearly ready to reopen, artists may already be booked until at least 2029 or 2030 — and that is a very long time to ask audiences to hold on before their attentions wander elsewhere.
The Kennedy Center's audience — and artist, and staff — drop-off
Audience attendance has already declined sharply for various reasons. On social media, people said they didn't want to go to performances that had become attached to Trump's name, or because shows they wanted to see had already been canceled.
Ticket sales plummeted. In January, one of the center's resident companies, the Washington National Opera, left entirely. The complex's other resident organization, the National Symphony Orchestra — whose budget is far more tethered to the center — is now in a deep financial crisis, according to multiple internal sources at the NSO who are not authorized to speak publicly. The orchestra's money troubles were first reported by The Washington Post.
As a result of those dwindling audiences, as well as the board's previous attempt to wind down programming in anticipation of the major renovations which Trump has been heralding for months, the Kennedy Center is currently offering only a tiny fraction of its previous slate. For example, the institution prided itself on its Millennium Stage programming, which presented a free public performance every day, 365 days of the year, for decades.
Under the board's current plan, the center's main building will be shuttered, while keeping The REACH, a 2019 addition, open for limited programming and as a memorial to the late President John F. Kennedy.
In recent months, much of the center's staff, ranging from artistic curators to development staffers, have either been fired or have left. Over this period, dozens of prominent figures in the performing arts community, including former Kennedy Center staffers, have told NPR that they believe that the call for renovations from within this Trump-led board has been a way of covering the center's recent programming and financial failures. Those individuals are not willing to be named publicly because of fears of retaliation, but they have said that between lost ticket revenue and lost donations, the current numbers cannot add up to financial stability. Large legacy institutions like the Kennedy Center generally depend on a balance of earned revenue, philanthropic giving and some amount of government grants.
Jennifer Vanasco edited the audio and digital version of this story.
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