Trump says he won't tear down the Kennedy Center arts venue but it needs
to be closed for repairs
[February 03, 2026]
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that he's “not
ripping down” the Kennedy Center but insisted the performing arts venue
needs to shut down for about two years for construction and other work
without patrons coming and going and getting in the way.
The comments strongly suggested that he intends to gut the John F.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the process.
“I’m not ripping it down," the Republican president told reporters in
the Oval Office. “I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the
structure.”
Such a project would mark the Republican president's latest effort to
put his stamp on a cultural institution that Congress designated as a
living memorial to President Kennedy, a Democrat. It also would be in
addition to attempts to leave a permanent mark on Washington through
other projects, the most prominent of which is adding a ballroom to the
White House.
Shortly after taking office last year, Trump dismissed Kennedy Center
board members who had been appointed by Democratic presidents and
replaced them with loyalists, who voted to make him chairman. He helped
choose the recipients of the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, a program he
avoided during his first term. He later hosted the event, and the board
voted late last year to rebrand the Kennedy Center by adding his name to
the building and website.
Trump announced Sunday on social media that he intends to temporarily
close the performing arts venue on July 4 for about two years “for
Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding," subject to board
approval.
The announcement followed a wave of cancellations by leading performers,
musicians and groups since the president took over leadership of the
arts institution. Trump did not mention the cancellations in his
announcements, or during his comments Monday.
Kennedy Center Arts Workers United, which includes several unions
representing the institution's arts workers, said in a statement that it
was aware of Trump's announcement but had received no formal notice or
briefing about his plans. The group pledged to enforce its members'
contractual rights.
“Should we receive formal notice of a temporary suspension of Kennedy
Center operations that displaces our members, we will enforce our
contracts and exercise all our rights under the law,” the statement
said. “We expect continued fair pay, enforceable worker protections, and
accountability for our members in the event they cannot work due to an
operational pause.”
Promising ‘the highest-grade everything’
Recalling his past career in construction and real estate, Trump said,
“you want to sit with something for a little while before you decide on
what you want to do.” Speaking of the Kennedy Center, he said: “We sat
with it. We ran it. It's in very bad shape,” asserting that the building
is “run down,” “dilapidated” and “sort of dangerous.”
Roma Daravi, a Kennedy Center spokesperson, said in a social media post
that “decades of gross negligence” has led to $250 million of deferred
maintenance needs and that temporarily closing the institution “is the
most logical choice to allow for comprehensive renovations, efficient
project completion, and responsible use of taxpayer dollars.”
Deborah Rutter, the Kennedy Center president who was ousted by Trump,
declined comment Monday. In the past, she has said allegations from
Trump and others about the center's management were false.
A representative for David Rubenstein, the board chairman who was also
pushed out by Trump, said Rubenstein was not available Monday to
comment.
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A bronze sculpture of President John F. Kennedy is displayed in the
John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Monday,
Feb. 2, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
 Trump, citing the complaints of a
workman he said has been laying marble at the Kennedy Center, said
the closure is needed because "you can't do any work because people
are coming in and out.”
He pegged the cost at about $200 million, including the use of “the
highest-grade marbles, the highest-grade everything.”
“We’re fully financed and so we’re going to close it and we’re going
to make it unbelievable, far better than it ever was, and we’ll be
able to do it properly," Trump said.
Congress earmarked $257 million for the Kennedy Center in a tax cut
and spending bill that Trump signed into law last summer.
What kind of work is involved
The White House said after the president spoke that some of the
maintenance includes work on the building's structural, heating and
cooling, plumbing, electrical, fire protection and technical stage
systems. Work on the building's exterior, security standards and
parking are also included.
Daravi, the Kennedy Center spokesperson, declined comment when asked
how the closure would affect the annual Mark Twain Award and Kennedy
Center Honors events this year.
Trump said last October, also on social media, that the venue would
stay open during construction. But on Monday he said that plan was
no longer feasible.
“I was thinking maybe there’s a way of doing it simultaneously but
there really isn’t, and we’re going to have something that when it
opens it’s going to be brand new, beautiful," Trump said.
“The steel will all be checked out because it’ll be fully exposed,”
he said. “It’s been up for a long time, but as anybody knows it was
in very bad shape. Wasn’t kept well, before I got there,” he said.
“So we’re going to make it, I think there won’t be anything like it
in the country.”
The Kennedy Center opened in 1971.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who in November opened an
investigation into the Kennedy Center's financial management, said
the planned closure is part of Trump's “demolition tour of
Washington.” Whitehouse is the senior Democrat on the Environment
and Public Works Committee, which oversees public buildings, and is
an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center's board.
Since Trump returned to the presidency, the Kennedy Center is one of
many Washington landmarks that he has sought to overhaul in his
second term.
He demolished the White House East Wing and launched a massive $400
million ballroom project, is actively pursuing building a triumphal
arch on the other side the Arlington Bridge from the Lincoln
Memorial, and has plans for Washington Dulles International Airport.
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Associated Press writers Hillel Italie in New York and Steven Sloan
in Washington contributed to this report.
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