The move comes amid major fallout from Trump’s takeover of the cultural complex, including the Washington National Opera leaving after more than 5 decades.

Donald Trump announces Kennedy Center will close for 2 years for renovations

The move comes amid major fallout from Trump's takeover of the cultural complex, including the Washington National Opera leaving after more than 5 decades.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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February 1, 2026 9:22 p.m. ET

Donald Trump at the White House in 2026. Credit:

SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty

- Donald Trump announced a two-year closure of the Kennedy Center for renovations on Sunday.

- The Washington, D.C., cultural institution, which Trump called "tired, broken, and dilapidated" in a Truth Social post, will close on July 4, 2026, to re-open "far better than it has ever been before."

- The move comes amid massive fallout from Trump's attempt to reshape the Kennedy Center by firing Joe Biden's board appointees, installing himself as chairman, and renaming it the "Trump Kennedy Center."**

Big changes are coming to the Kennedy Center — again.

Donald Trump announced on Sunday that the iconic cultural institution in Washington, D.C., will be closing for two years to undergo renovations.

Citing a "one year review of The Trump Kennedy Center" in a post to his Truth Social platform, the former host of *The Apprentice *noted that a "temporary closure" of the compound inaugurated in 1971 in honor of President John F. Kennedy, which Trump announced in December he'd be adding his name to, "will produce a much faster and higher quality result" than letting programming run as normal throughout construction.**

"Based on these findings, and totally subject to Board approval, I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur, is to cease Entertainment Operations for an approximately two year period of time, with a scheduled Grand Reopening that will rival and surpass anything that has taken place with respect to such a Facility before," he wrote.

The Kennedy Center will formally close on July 4, "in honor of the 250th Anniversary of our Country," Trump continued. Calling the sprawling, 1.5 million-square-foot facility "tired, broken, and dilapidated that has "been in bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years," Trump vowed to transform the Kennedy Center "into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment, far better than it has ever been before. America will be very proud of its new and beautiful Landmark for many generations to come."

The White House did not immediately respond to **'s request for comment.

Oscar nominee cancels Kennedy Center symphony over 'direct conflict' with Trump leadership

Kennedy Center gets new name that we all saw coming after Trump takeover

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Trump hand-picked the board that his closure proposal is "totally subject" to as part of a broader commandeering of the Kennedy Center that began as soon as he retook the presidency last January.

One of Trump's first moves in a dramatic refashioning of the traditionally apolitical institution was to remove 18 board members previously selected by Joe Biden, as well as longtime president Deborah F. Rutter. Trump then installed a board comprised of members from both sides of the political aisle, but including several loyalists, including Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President J.D. Vance, and Susie Wiles, the president's chief of staff. He also appointed himself the new chairman of the board.********

The new front of the Kennedy Center, featuring Donald Trump's name.

Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty

The board shake-up, the name change, and the Trump administration's Republican allies on the House Appropriations Committee attempting to rename the Kennedy Center Opera House after First Lady Melania Trump by slipping an amendment into a spending bill instigated a major controversy that has caused a sizable exodus from the cultural center.

Figures like TV mogul Shonda Rhimes have resigned from the board, musicians like Philip Glass have canceled their planned engagements at the Center, and after calling it a home for five decades, the Washington National Opera announced it was leaving the venue earlier this month.

Though some have praised the Trump administration's attempts to reshape the Center, others have issued criticisms, including the audience at a March performance of the National Symphony Orchestra, where Vance was met with loud boos.

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