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Kennedy Center to shut for renovation starting July 4
Washington's Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will close for two years beginning this Independence Day, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday. The closure coincides with the U.S. semiquincentennial and follows a controversial renaming of the venue.
Renaming sparks backlash and cancellations
Shortly after taking office for a second term, Trump replaced several board members with allies, who then installed him as chairman. In December, the board voted to rename the institution the Donald J Trump and the John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. New signage appeared on the building the next day.
Several artists, including Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz and the dance troupe Doug Varone and Dancers, canceled performances in protest. Legal scholars and lawmakers argue that the 1964 federal law establishing the center requires congressional approval for any name change.
Last December, Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty filed a lawsuit to block the renaming. Members of the Kennedy family have also condemned the move, with former Representative Joe Kennedy III calling the center "a living memorial to a fallen president."
Renovation plans and funding
Trump said the $250 million renovation-already financed through congressional allocation-would transform the center into "the finest performing arts facility of its kind, anywhere in the world." He argued that closing the venue would ensure higher-quality construction and faster completion.
"If we don't close, the quality of construction will not be nearly as good, and the time to completion, because of interruptions with audiences from the many events using the facility, will be much longer," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Recent events and reopening timeline
The center hosted a premiere screening of a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump last Thursday. The president promised a "scheduled grand reopening" after the two-year closure.
Critics, however, question whether the renovation timeline aligns with the center's cultural mission. The closure begins on July 4, a date Trump framed as symbolic for the nation's 250th anniversary.
