The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will move forward with President Donald Trump’s plans to shutter the institution for two years after its board of trustees voted Monday to approve the proposal — clearing the way for sweeping renovations at the nation’s premier performing arts center.
Meeting at the White House on Monday, the Kennedy Center’s general trustees, who were handpicked by Trump after his takeover of the institution last year, unanimously voted to close the complex this summer for a two-year renovation project.
They also voted to install Matt Floca, who previously ran facilities operations, to replace Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell whose departure was announced last week.
Prior to the board proceedings, Trump hosted a news conference touting what he called “incredible strides” under his leadership to restore the center’s “true purpose and prestige” and welcoming Floca, who he said would oversee the building’s construction crew and planning.
“Matt, I’m here to a certain extent to wish you good luck on everything,” Trump said, not 15 minutes after saying he would fire Floca if he doesn’t perform well.
Trump said the Kennedy Center had been “literally on the verge of collapse,” both structurally and financially, when he took over. The administration has never offered proof of such dire peril, on either front, despite dozens of requests from The Washington Post.
Trump also said Grenell, who became president in February 2025, was not fired and praised his tenure, saying that “some of the artists, they took a pounding from Ric.”
The board vote cleared a major hurdle in Trump’s efforts to remake the center, which he has long claimed is in grave disrepair.
Beginning with his plans to take over the center and make himself chair, the president has followed a now familiar pattern in his newfound relationship with the Kennedy Center: First, he announces a major plan on Truth Social — e.g. taking over the center, renaming it after himself, closing it — and only later does the board vote on the very thing he’s already announced.
Since, announcing the Kennedy Center’s shutdown in February, Trump has shared few details about plans for the closure or its renovation.
He said the project would cost about $200 million, which is likely to be covered by the historically large congressional appropriation of $257 million from the One Big Beautiful Bill last year.
And he has insisted that he’s not demolishing the building. “I’m not ripping it down. I’ll be using the steel,” he told reporters last month.
On Friday, he unveiled new renderings of the building’s exterior, which did not appear to show major structural changes to the complex. In the images, the roof and some of the windows appeared to be updated. The renderings also revealed some landscaping changes, including new trees along the terrace facing the Potomac, where the center last year removed several willow trees.
Despite board support, Trump still faces legal challenges and efforts from Democratic lawmakers to investigate and reverse drastic changes to the Kennedy Center in the past year.
After Trump’s name was added to the building’s facade in December, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center, sued the board, arguing that only Congress has the power to change the institution’s name.
Earlier this month, she amended her complaint, seeking a preliminary injunction to halt any steps toward closing, demolishing or renovating the center.
When Trump first announced his takeover of the center, he appeared to be mostly concerned with the institution’s programming, which he repeatedly referred to as “woke.” His focus turned to the building itself after he visited the center, about a month after becoming chair.
The Kennedy Center is “in tremendous disrepair, as is a lot of the rest of our country,” Trump told reporters last March. “Most of it, because of bad management. This is a shame, what I’ve watched and witnessed.”
Former and current staffers continue to push back on this claim.
Since then, Trump and the center’s new leadership have complained of mice and broken elevators but have never articulated why the center would be in need of such a dramatic reconstruction.
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