Trump’s Kennedy Center board approves his plan to shutter institution for two years of renovations
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will close this summer for two years of renovations, the center’s Trump-appointed board unanimously voted on Monday.
The president has insisted the lengthy closure is necessary to carry out sweeping updates to the nation’s flagship arts center, which has suffered a string of artist cancellations in recent months under the Trump administration. He said Monday changes will include replacing the complex’s heating system and marble.
“What I know best in the world is construction,” Trump said Monday at the White House. “The best way to do it is close it, do it properly and reopen it, have a grand reopening. And when it’s finished it’s going to be far better than it was when it was originally built.”
Renovations will began after July 4, according to the center.
President Trump has said the project could cost around $200 million, below the $250 million Congress approved for upgrades last year.
Democrats have accused the center of closing to distract from a string of high-profile issues since Trump took it over, including the Washington National Opera cutting ties with the center and declining attendance for major performances.
“I was very clear in advising them that while I’m not against renovations if they need to be done,” Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Kennedy center board member who has sued to block the closure, told The New York Times on Monday. “I am totally against the process, it being unlawful, them not checking with the Congress.”
Today’s vote comes after an announcement on Friday that interim Kennedy Center leader Richard Grenell was stepping down.
On Monday, the board voted to name Matt Floca as the center’s new executive director.
Last year, Trump cleaned house at the Kennedy Center, replaced its typically bipartisan leadership with a board of allies, and attempted to officially add his name to the center’s title, a move critics say is not legal.
The board also installed Trump as its chairman last February.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.
