Kennedy Center

In 1958 President Dwight Eisenhower signed the bipartisan National Cultural Center Act creating a National Cultural Center in the nation’s capital; under the law the federal government would provide the land while private donations would pay for construction. Architect Edward Durell Stone was chosen to design the center.⁠[1][2]

With private fundraising stalled, President John F. Kennedy recruited Broadway producer Roger L. Stevens to lead the board, and it took the support of President and Mrs. Kennedy to jumpstart fundraising.⁠[1]

On January 23, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the John F. Kennedy Center Act, renaming the center in honour of Kennedy, designating it a “living memorial” to him and adding $15.5 million in federal matching funds. On December 2 that year Johnson broke ground for the center.⁠[1][2]

The Kennedy Center officially opened on September 8, 1971, with a performance of MASS, composed by Leonard Bernstein on a commission from Jacqueline Kennedy. The Washington National Opera made the center its home from 1971, and the National Symphony Orchestra is a partner organisation.⁠[1][3][2]

The list of Kennedy Center Honors recipients begins in 1978; the honours recognise individuals whose unique artistic contributions have shaped the world, and their founding producer is George Stevens Jr.⁠[4]

Gordon GettyGordon GettyGordon Getty is an American composer and a son of the oilman J. Paul Getty; as sole trustee of the Sarah C. Getty Trust he sold the trust’s Getty Oil stake to Texaco in 1984, and he has composed operas including Plump Jack and Usher House.Open the full entry’s official website lists “Kennedy Center Outstanding American Composer 1986” among his honours.⁠[5]

In early February 2025, shortly after his second term began, Donald Trump said he would take the helm as the center’s chairman, writing: “At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN.” On February 12 the board, made up entirely of Trump appointees, voted to remove billionaire David Rubenstein as chair and replace him with Trump.⁠[6][7]

Deborah F. Rutter, president since 2014, left, with a press release saying her contract was “terminated”; Richard Grenell, a former acting director of national intelligence, was appointed interim president. The center announced 14 new board members, including Trump, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, Allison Lutnick, Usha Vance, Sergio Gor, country singer Lee Greenwood and philanthropist Patricia Duggan, and Shonda Rhimes resigned as treasurer. Trump wrote: “It is a Great Honor to be Chairman of The Kennedy Center.”⁠[7]

In December 2025 Trump hosted the Kennedy Center Honors, the first president to do so, a few days after the World CupFIFA World CupThe FIFA World Cup is FIFA’s men’s national-team football tournament, held every four years.Open the full entry draw was held at the venue.⁠[8]

On December 18, 2025, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the board “have just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center.” Kennedy’s grandson Jack Schlossberg disputed that the meeting and vote were unanimous, and his niece Maria Shriver and Representative Steve Cohen objected. Because the center was named for Kennedy by an act of Congress in 1964, it was unclear whether the change could proceed without congressional approval. That month the facade was changed to read “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”⁠[6][9]

In January 2026 the Washington National Opera announced that it was leaving the Kennedy Center, its home since 1971, saying that the center’s new business model, which requires productions to be fully funded in advance, was incompatible with opera; the center said it had parted ways because of a “financially challenging” relationship.⁠[3]

Earlier, artists including Issa Rae, Béla Fleck and Rhiannon Giddens had cancelled appearances at the center, the musical Hamilton had cancelled performances, Louise Penny had withdrawn, and Ben Folds and Renée Fleming had resigned as consultants.⁠[3][8]

In February 2026 Trump said he would close the center for two years after that summer’s July Fourth celebrations, and in March the board voted to shut down for two years on the grounds that it needed “sweeping renovations.”⁠[8][10]

On March 13, 2026, Trump announced that Grenell would step down as president and be succeeded by Matt Floca, who had joined the center in January 2024 and managed its facilities operations; Floca subsequently led the center as executive director and chief operating officer.⁠[8][11]

Representative Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio board member, sued, arguing that the board lacked authority to close or rename the center without Congress. On May 29, 2026, Judge Christopher Cooper of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Congress had named the center for John F. Kennedy alone, struck down the board’s renaming, gave the board 14 days to remove Trump’s name and restored Beatty’s voting rights, writing: “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”⁠[10][12]

Cooper also blocked a two-year closure that had been set to begin on July 5, calling the earlier board vote authorising it “ill-informed and seemingly preordained.” On June 13, after an appeals court declined to intervene, the metal letters spelling Trump’s name were removed overnight. Trump then wrote on Truth Social that the center “will collapse, both structurally and financially.” In late June the comedian Bill Maher accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.⁠[11][10]

On August 13, 2026, the board voted in a virtual meeting to add the words “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump” to the facade and to name the plaza in front of the building for Trump, with a second inscription to follow if the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reached $100 million. It also voted to close most of the venue for two years of renovation, keeping some programming in the outdoor space known as the Reach. Floca said he had recommended to Trump that the building close for two years so that all the renovations could be done at once.⁠[11][13][10]

Beatty called the move “a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling,” while White House spokesperson Liz Huston said that under Trump’s leadership the center “is on its way to becoming the finest cultural institution anywhere in the world.”⁠[11][10]

On September 15, 2026, Cooper barred the board from acting on its August 13 resolution, writing that the defendants “cannot install memorials for President Trump” without Congress’s approval. The same day the board voted for a third time to close the center; on September 16 Floca ordered a temporary closure of the main building, and Cooper ordered the center to give 30 days’ notice before any major physical changes to the building.⁠[9][12][14]

On October 2, 2026, it was announced that the 49th Kennedy Center Honors would take place on December 7 at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington rather than at the center; no explanation for the change was given.⁠[15]

In October Floca announced in an internal email that Rick Canny, a talent manager who had consulted for the center since shortly after Trump became chairman in February 2025, would be its new artistic director. In a March memo, Sammy Miller, the former senior director of music programming, had written that Canny charged the center $30,000 in consulting fees in one month; the center said the figure did not reflect Canny’s current agreement. As of October 10 the center had been mostly closed to the public since September, keeping a small amount of public and educational programming.⁠[16]

On October 25, Beatty’s lawyers asked Judge Cooper to order the administration to turn over documents, emails and text messages withheld as privileged presidential communications, including 19 texts between Floca and Trump aide Natalie Harp and about 180 texts between Floca and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick; the judge had not yet ruled. Trump has said the building is in dangerous condition and must be “ripped down.”⁠[14]

Under its authorising statute the center’s mission is to present classical and contemporary music, opera, drama, dance and other performing arts and to embody the ideals of President Kennedy; it receives an annual federal appropriation for capital repairs and maintenance of its facilities, while its operating budget comes mainly from ticket revenue and private philanthropy. Its arts education programmes reach all 50 states and 29 countries.⁠[2]

Kennedy Center: Official website: https://www.kennedy-center.org/ (opens in a new window)⁠[2]