The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, serving as a "living memorial" to John F. Kennedy. Located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., the center opened September 8, 1971, and hosts many genres of performance art, spanning theater, ballet, modern dance, classical music, jazz, pop, psychedelic, and folk music. The Kennedy Center is the residence of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Authorized by the National Cultural Center Act of 1958, which requires that its programming be sustained through private funds, the center represents a public–private partnership. Its activities include educational and outreach initiatives, almost entirely funded through ticket sales and gifts from individuals, corporations, and private foundations. The center receives annual federal funding to cover building maintenance and operations.
The original building, designed by Edward Durell Stone, is administered as a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution. An extension designed by Steven Holl opened in 2019. In 1968, George London became the Kennedy Center's first executive director. In 1991, Lawrence Wilker became its first president. In 2014, Deborah Rutter became its third president and the first woman to hold the post.
In 2025, President Donald Trump dismissed the center's trustees and replaced them with people who elected him chairman and voted to add his name to the center, a move later determined to be illegal. Consequently, ticket sales declined, dozens of performances were canceled, and the Washington National Opera ended its half-century of residence. In February 2026, Trump said that the center would close in July for two years of renovations. On May 29, 2026, US District Judge Christopher R. "Casey" Cooper blocked the Kennedy Center from closing during its renovations and ordered that Trump's name be removed. On June 13, 2026, Trump's name was removed from the Kennedy Center.
History
The idea for a national cultural center dates to 1933 when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt discussed ideas for the Emergency Relief and Civil Works Administration to alleviate unemployment among American thespians during the Great Depression. Congress held hearings in 1935 for plans to establish a Cabinet-level "Department of Science, Art and Literature", and to build a monumental theater and arts building on Capitol Hill near the Supreme Court building. A 1938 Congressional resolution called for the construction of a "public building which shall be known as the National Cultural Center" near Judiciary Square, but this never materialized.
The idea for a national theater resurfaced in 1950, when U.S. representative Arthur George Klein of New York introduced a bill to authorize funds to plan and build a cultural center. The bill included provisions that the center would prohibit any discrimination of cast or audience. In 1955, the Stanford Research Institute was commissioned to select a site and provide design suggestions for the center.
From 1955 to 1958, Congress debated the idea amid much controversy. A bill was finally passed in Congress in the summer of 1958, and on September 4, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Cultural Center Act into law, which provided momentum for the project.
This was the first time that the federal government helped finance a structure dedicated to the performing arts. The legislation required a portion of the costs, estimated at $10–25 million, to be raised within five years of the bill's passage. Edward Durell Stone was selected as architect for the project in June 1959. He presented preliminary designs to the President's Music Committee in October 1959, along with estimated costs of $50 million, double the original estimates of $25–30 million. By November 1959, estimated costs had escalated to $61 million.
Despite this, Stone's design was well received in editorials in The Washington Post and Washington Star, and was quickly approved by the United States Commission of Fine Arts, National Capital Planning Commission, and the National Park Service.
Fundraising
The National Cultural Center Board of Trustees, a group President Eisenhower established on January 29, 1959, led fundraising. Fundraising efforts were not successful, with only $13,425 raised in the first three years. President John F. Kennedy was interested in bringing culture to the nation's capital, and provided leadership and support for the project. In 1961, Kennedy asked Roger L. Stevens to help develop the National Cultural Center, and serve as chairman of the board of trustees. Stevens recruited First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy as the center's honorary chairman, and former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower as co-chairman. In January 1961, Jarold A. Kieffer became the first executive director of the National Cultural Center, overseeing numerous fundraising efforts and assisting with the architectural plan. At the time of the assassination of President Kennedy, the National Cultural Center had only raised $13 million. Its board then re-envisioned the project as a "living memorial” to him, and Congress renamed it the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1964.
The total cost of construction was $70 million. Congress allocated $43 million for construction costs, including $23 million as an outright grant and the other $20 million in bonds. Donations also comprised a significant portion of funding, including $5 million from the Ford Foundation, and approximately $500,000 from the Kennedy family.
Other major donors included J. Willard Marriott, Marjorie Merriweather Post, John D. Rockefeller III, and Robert W. Woodruff, as well as many corporate donors. Foreign countries provided gifts to the Kennedy Center, including a gift of 3,700 tons of Carrara marble from Italy (worth $1.5 million) from the Italian government, which was used in the building's construction.
Construction
President Lyndon B. Johnson dug the ceremonial first shovel of earth at the groundbreaking for the Kennedy Center on December 2, 1964. However, debate continued for another year over the Foggy Bottom site, with some advocating for another location on Pennsylvania Avenue. Excavation of the site got underway on December 11, 1965, and the site was cleared by January 1967.
The first performance was September 5, 1971, with 2,200 members of the general public in attendance to see a premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass in the Opera House, while the center's official opening took place September 8, 1971, with a formal gala and premiere performance of the Bernstein Mass.
The Concert Hall was inaugurated September 9, 1971, with a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antal Doráti. Alberto Ginastera's opera, Beatrix Cenci premiered at the Kennedy Center Opera House September 10, 1971. The Eisenhower Theater was inaugurated October 18, 1971, with a performance of A Doll's House starring Claire Bloom.
Renovations and expansion
On June 16, 1971, Congress authorized appropriations for one year to the board of trustees for operating and maintenance expenses. In the following years, the appropriations were provided to the National Park Service for operations, maintenance, security, safety, and other functions not directly related to the performing arts activities. The National Park Service and the Kennedy Center signed a cooperative agreement requiring each party to pay a portion of the operating and maintenance costs based on what proportion of time the building was to be used for performing arts functions. The agreement did not specify who was responsible for long-term capital improvement projects at the Kennedy Center, and it provided only periodic funding from Congress for one-time projects.
1990–2008
In fiscal years 1991 and 1992, Congress recommended that $27.7 million be allocated for capital improvement projects at the center, including $12 million for structural repairs to the garage and $15.7 million for structural and mechanical repairs, as well as projects for improving handicapped access. In 1994, Congress gave full responsibility to the Kennedy Center for capital improvement projects and facility management. From 1995 to 2005, over $200 million of federal funds were allocated to the Kennedy Center for long-term capital projects, repairs, and to bring the center into compliance with modern fire safety and accessibility codes. Improvements included renovation of the Concert Hall, Opera House, plaza-level public spaces, and a new fire alarm system. The renovations projects were completed 13 to 50 percent over budget, due to modifications of plans during the renovations resulting in overtime and other penalties. Renovations to the Eisenhower Theater were completed in 2008.
2013–2024
Beginning in 2013, the center commenced an 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) expansion project on four acres (1.6 ha) in the center's South Plaza. The expansion added classroom, rehearsal, and performance space and includes three pavilions (the Welcome Pavilion, the Skylight Pavilion, and the River Pavilion), a reflecting pool, a tree grove, a sloping lawn to be used for outdoor performances, and a pedestrian bridge over Rock Creek Parkway. The architect is Steven Holl, with assistance from architectural firm BNIM. Edmund Hollander Landscape Architects is the landscape architect.
Plans for the expansion project began after David M. Rubenstein donated $50 million to the center. A groundbreaking ceremony took place in December 2014. Originally estimated at $100 million, the project cost grew to $175 million, and design changes and a major D.C. sewer project significantly delayed construction. The expansion, entitled the REACH, opened on September 7, 2019, with an opening arts festival.
The fundraising goal for the REACH expansion grew to $250 million as the project progressed, and the target was achieved just two days before opening. Since its opening, the REACH has received several design awards, such as The Architect's Newspaper's Best of the Year Award in the Cultural category and an Honor Award in the 2020 AIA New York Design Awards.
Second Trump presidency
On February 10, 2025, Trump appointed Richard Grenell as interim executive director, criticized the center's drag and LGBTQ programming, and vowed to set the performance slate. He dismissed the appointed board members and appointed his own, who elected him as chair on February 12. The center soon canceled the national tour of the new children's musical Finn (which contains coming-of-age themes); a Kennedy Center spokesperson called it "a purely financial decision". Actors' unions, artists, and members of the public described the move as an attack on free speech and accessibility to the performing arts. Artists began to cancel performances and otherwise disassociate themselves from the Kennedy Center. Among them are Rhiannon Giddens, Issa Rae, Renée Fleming, Shonda Rhimes, and Ben Folds. Producers cancelled entire planned performance runs, including of the musical Hamilton and play Eureka Day.
In April, guitarist and composer Yasmin Williams emailed Grenell to express her concern about DEI rollbacks and other changes made by Trump. She wrote, "These events have caused a major negative reaction in my musical community to playing at the Kennedy Center, with lots of individuals I know ultimately canceling their shows there". Grenell replied, "Every single person who cancelled a show did so because they couldn't be in the presence of Republicans," and "I cut the DEI bullshit because we can't afford to pay people for fringe and niche programming that the public won't support".
When Williams performed at the center in September, her performance was disrupted by a group of Log Cabin Republicans whose seats had been reserved by Grenell's office.
In May, the Kennedy Center board revised its bylaws to allow only trustees appointed by Trump to vote, thus excluding the board's 23 ex officio members from voting or constituting a quorum. Center spokesperson Roma Daravi later said the revision to the bylaws reflected "longstanding precedent" and had passed unanimously with no objections.
That same month, Washington Performing Arts announced that it was moving its 2025–26 season events to other venues. Cast members withdrew from a June performance of Les Misérables at the center that Trump planned to attend. In June, Trump and his wife Melania attended the opening night of the Center's performance of Les Misérables and a fundraiser which was later held in the building to support the center.
In July, Republicans on the United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies amended the 2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies spending bill to include a clause that would rename the Kennedy Center Opera House to "Melania Trump Opera House". The amendment requires approval by the entire U.S. House of Representatives. In October, the Washington Post reported that ticket sales at the center had fallen drastically since Trump's takeover, reaching the lowest levels since the COVID-19 pandemic.
In November, a letter from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said the Kennedy Center had become "a swamp for cronyism and self-dealing" under Grenell, citing contracts awarded to associates, rental-fee discounts for political allies, and luxury spending allegedly unrelated to fundraising. Grenell called the claims "partisan attacks and false accusations," while asserting that he achieved a balanced budget, cut development staff from 94 to 16, and implemented a new policy requiring events to be revenue-neutral. Whitehouse continued an investigation of the Kennedy Center, launched in November by the Senate environment and public works committee (EPW).
Trump hosted the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony on December 7, 2025, the first time a U.S. president has hosted the event, although many have attended. The New York Times described it as Trump "putting his cultural takeover of Washington in sharp relief".
Board renaming vote and more cancellations
On December 18, 2025, the Kennedy Center board—minus the ex officio members whose votes had been nullified in May—voted to putatively rename the center as The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, or the Trump-Kennedy Center. Federal statute holds that the center is named the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; the board cited no legal authority to rename the center.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the vote was unanimous, but ex officio member U.S. representative Joyce Beatty said she "was muted on the call and not allowed to speak or voice [her] opposition to this move". House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Representative Rick Larsen indicated that they were not present at the meeting; Jeffries further stated, "The Kennedy Center Board has no authority to actually rename the Kennedy Center in the absence of legislative action, and we're going to make that clear." Former congressman Joe Kennedy III, grandnephew of John F. Kennedy, expressed opposition to the name change, stating that the center was "named for President Kennedy by federal law. It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says."
The center's website published a new logo on December 18, and workers added Trump's name to the building's façade the following day, violating federal law that prohibits the board from installing another person's name on the building's exterior in the process. According to Justice Department lawyers who represented Trump, the new signage was able to be installed so quickly because it had been "prepared and/or purchased prior to the Board's vote the day before."
The illegal name change triggered a new wave of cancellations by artists and companies. In December, the American College Theatre Festival suspended its 58-year partnership with the center. Kristy Lee canceled her January 14 appearance. Musician Chuck Redd, who had been hosting the annual Christmas Eve jazz concert, canceled the event, which had run for two decades at the center. Richard Grenell subsequently sent Redd a letter criticizing his decision as a "political stunt" and saying he would seek $1 million in damages. The breach-of-contract lawsuit, filed in March, 2026, was dismissed by the court in June. On December 29, 2025, after several more artists cancelled their events, Grenell stated, "Their actions prove that the previous team was more concerned about booking far left political activists rather than artists willing to perform for everyone regardless of their political beliefs." On January 9, 2026, the Washington National Opera announced it would leave the center; artistic director Francesca Zambello said box office revenue had collapsed and donor confidence had been "shattered" since Trump's takeover. Later that month, composer Philip Glass announced he was withdrawing the scheduled world premiere of his Symphony No. 15, "Lincoln", from the venue.
In a January 16, 2026 press release, venue officials referred to the center as the "Trump Kennedy Center", the "Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts", the Kennedy Center and the "Center".
Following the name alteration, Toby Morton, a television writer and producer who had anticipated the renaming with an adverse domain name registration, created a satirical political awareness website which parodied the Center's then-current official site.
Proposed two-year closure
In February 2026, Trump announced that the center would close on July 4, 2026, for a two-year renovation. "I have determined that The Trump Kennedy Center, if temporarily closed for Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding, can be, without question, the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World," he wrote on Truth Social. Weeks earlier, the president announced plans to restore the building's exterior marble and interior chairs.
CNN reported that the center's new leaders had been unable to sign enough acts for the 2026–27 season, citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the center's programming. The Atlantic's David Graham wrote, "Trump's contradictory statements and the absence of an independent board or any notification to Congress make these claims of a building in need of repair unverifiable at best, and most likely nonsense. A more plausible reason for the closing is that under Trump, the Kennedy Center can't hold on to staff, artists, or audiences", in part because "Grenell's threat to sue Redd for $1 million is unlikely to make artists more eager to book shows."
The surprise announcement disrupted long-planned schedules and forced arts organizations to find new venues. Among them is the National Symphony Orchestra, which typically plays about 175 events a year and had released its 2026–27 schedule more than a year earlier. The following month, the executive director of the orchestra, Jean Davidson, announced that she was leaving, stating, "I didn't see how I could be effective as a leader in the current climate."
Cultural consultant and former center president Michael Kaiser expressed concern that the two-year closure would destroy the network of supporters for the institution. He has avoided the center since Trump's takeover, stating, "The Kennedy Center had always been a non-partisan institution. We didn't talk politics. We didn't evaluate performers based on their backgrounds or political beliefs and we were there to serve the nation and the region."
On March 13, 2026, Trump announced that Grenell would resign and be replaced by Matt Floca, manager of the center's facilities operations. The Washington Post said Grenell had a "turbulent tenure marked by staff departures, artist cancellations and plummeting ticket sales". Three days later, the center's Trump-appointed board of directors voted to approve Floca as president. It also ratified the plan to close the center for the years of renovations after the July 4 celebrations.
Legal challenges
In December 2025, ex officio member U.S. representative Joyce Beatty filed suit against the Kennedy Center trustees who voted to change the name, arguing that they had no legal power to do so.
On May 29, 2026, Judge Cooper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the center to revert to the original name within fourteen days and ordered reconsideration of the venue's extended renovation. The ruling also clarified that ex officio board members are entitled to full voting rights, and prohibits any continued enforcement of an earlier decision by the board to exclude participation of ex officio members. The judge wrote that this "is unlikely to change the Board's current balance of power", and noted that any dispute about ex officio members having voted in the past is irrelevant to the current case. In the same ruling, Cooper issued a temporary order that blocked the proposed two-year closure of the venue. The order may have limited effect as there had been layoffs and more proposed, as well as a 2026-27 calendar not being filled.
Shortly after the ruling, Trump signaled that his administration would adhere to the court order, and stated that he had "no interest" in continuing the overhaul of the Kennedy Center unless he had the power to do whatever he wanted to do, saying the administration would "be working with Congress" to determine next steps. On June 5, Trump said he would remain in charge and stay involved in "the same way" as when he named himself as the chairman.
On June 8, Trump's name was removed from the Kennedy Center's website. Three days later, the Kennedy Center filed notice that it would appeal Cooper's ruling and asked him to stay his order pending appeal. The next day, Cooper denied the request for a stay, at which point the administration applied to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for an emergency administrative stay, which the appeals court likewise denied. The filing also made public that the board had changed the center's bylaws, such that if Trump's name was removed from the building, millions of dollars in donations would have to be returned. In the same appeal, the Kennedy Center asked for a regular stay pending appeal, which the appeals court denied a month later.
On the night of June 12, scaffolding was erected for workers to reach and remove the lettering of the building facade. Tarps were hung around the scaffolding, partially obscuring the view of the crowd that gathered; bystanders sang God Bless America, and chanted "take it down". Following the removal of Trump's name from the building, the scaffolding and tarp have remained for several weeks, and continue to obscure the Kennedy Center sign located on the front portico. In late June, Judge Cooper requested an update from the Kennedy Center about its operations and programming schedule, and demanded an explanation on the purpose and status of the tarp and scaffolding.
After the Washington National Opera (WNO) left the Kennedy Center, it asked the center to turn over funds it said the center had gathered on the WNO's behalf―a combination of endowment, other donations, and income. The Kennedy Center did not provide the funds to the WNO, and on June 11, 2026, the WNO sued the Kennedy Center for over $17 million.
Architecture
The original building, designed by architect Edward Durell Stone, was constructed by Philadelphia contractor John McShain, and is administered as a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution. An earlier design proposal called for a curvier, spaceship-inspired building similar to the neighboring Watergate complex. Overall, the building is 100 feet (30 m) high, 630 feet (190 m) long, and 300 feet (91 m) wide. The Kennedy Center features a 630-foot-long (190 m), 63-foot-high (19 m) grand foyer, with 16 hand-blown Orrefors crystal chandeliers (a gift from Sweden) and red carpeting. The Hall of States and the Hall of Nations are both 250-foot-long (76 m), 63-foot-high (19 m) corridors. The building has drawn criticism for its location (far away from Washington Metro stops), and for its scale and form. It has also drawn praise for its acoustics, and its terrace overlooking the Potomac River. In her book On Architecture, Ada Louise Huxtable called it "gemütlich Speer".
Cyril M. Harris designed the Kennedy Center's auditoriums and their acoustics. A key consideration is that many aircraft fly along the Potomac River and over the Kennedy Center, as they take off and land at the nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Helicopter traffic over the Kennedy Center is also fairly high. To keep out this noise, the Kennedy Center was designed as a box within a box, giving each auditorium an extra outer shell. After the original structure was marked for expansion, a competition in 2013 selected Steven Holl Architects to undertake the design. The extension, called the REACH, opened in 2019.
Artwork
The plaza entrance of the Kennedy Center features two tableaus by German sculptor Jürgen Weber, created between 1965 and 1971 as a gift to the Kennedy Center from the West German government. Near the north end of the plaza is a display of nude figures in scenes representing war and peace, called War or Peace. The piece, 8 ft × 50 ft × 1.5 ft (2.44 m × 15.24 m × 0.46 m), depicts five scenes showing the symbolism of war and peace: a war scene, murder, family, and creativity. At the south end is America, which represents Weber's image of America (8 × 50 × 1.5 ft.). Four scenes are depicted representing threats to liberty, technology, foreign aid and survival, and free speech.