Trump announces two-year closure of Kennedy Center, citing construction needs – key US politics stories from 1 February 2026
Donald Trump, who remains embroiled in tensions surrounding ICE’s presence in Minnesota, as well as scrutiny over the justice department’s latest release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, has made another announcement on Sunday evening: the temporary closure of the John F Kennedy Center in Washington DC.
Trump, who overhauled the center’s leadership at the start of his second term and renamed it to include his own name, described the center as “tired, broken, and dilapidated,” adding that it has been in “bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years”.
The center’s closure comes as a growing number of performers cancel their shows in response to Trump’s shakeup. Last week, Philip Glass, the celebrated US composer, announced his withdrawal of the world premiere of his latest symphony, Lincoln, at the center, explaining that the “values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the symphony.”
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