{"id":2644497,"date":"2026-08-13T15:34:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kennedy-center-board-votes-to-close-facility-for-construction\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T15:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:35:15","slug":"kennedy-center-board-votes-to-close-facility-for-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kennedy-center-board-votes-to-close-facility-for-construction\/","title":{"rendered":"Kennedy Center Board votes to close facility for construction"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fkennedy-center-board-votes-to-close-facility-for-construction%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2644497&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Kennedy Center\u2019s Board of Trustees has voted to close the performing arts center for a planned two-year renovation, despite opposition from preservationists and Democrats. This decision aligns with President Donald Trump\u2019s February directive to shut the center temporarily to repair structural damages, with the board also voting to add Trump\u2019s name to the building. A U.S. District Judge initially blocked the closure, citing insufficient justification, and ruled that the center must remain dedicated to President John F. Kennedy. The board later decided to proceed with the closure and renaming,while keeping the REACH wing open for performances and as a Kennedy memorial,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/psaki-businesses-should-move-forward-with-covid-19-measures-despite-two-court-stays\/\" title=\"Psaki: Businesses Should \u2018Move Forward... With COVID-19 \u2018Measures... Despite Two ... Stays\">pending judicial review<\/a>.The renovation aims to address issues like water damage,rusting steel,and outdated equipment,funded by a $257 million allocated through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The decision continues to be reviewed by the court, with additional legal considerations and previous rulings supporting the temporary closure.The renovations are expected to improve the facility\u2019s structural integrity and support its ongoing programming.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kennedy-center\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"6434\">Kennedy Center\u2019s<\/a> Board of Trustees voted Thursday to close the performing arts center to proceed with a planned<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4539086\/inside-look-kennedy-center-two-year-renovation\/\"> two-year renovation<\/a>, bucking concerns from preservationists and Democrats who fought to keep the center open.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The results of the vote, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/08\/13\/arts\/design\/kennedy-center-closure-board-vote-trump.html\">reported<\/a> by multiple <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-kennedy-center-closure-renovations-591cc891a1c0ececf3602ed121ce4840\">outlets<\/a>, fall in line with President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"4\">Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> February decision to close the facility for a two-year period to address structural damage to the theater. The board also voted to add Trump\u2019s name to the building on Thursday, according to the<em> New York Times<\/em> and the <em>Associated Press<\/em>.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4686487\/kennedy-center-board-vote-two-year-closure-renovations\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Kennedy Center Board votes to close facility for two years for construction<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4685872\/national-symphony-orchestra-ticket-sale-plunge\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>National Symphony Orchestra suffering as ticket sales plunge during Kennedy Center takeover: Report<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4683832\/marco-rubio-playlist-electronic-country-music\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>What\u2019s on Marco\u2019s playlist? Rubio gushes over electronic music and Tupac<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump\u2019s two-year closure, which had been set to begin in July, was initially thwarted when Obama appointee U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4587976\/judge-prevents-kennedy-center-closure-forces-trump-name-removal\/\">ruled against it<\/a>, saying the board\u2019s March vote to close was based on \u201cinsufficient\u201d information.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia also ruled that the performing arts center could not be renamed to the \u201cTrump-Kennedy Center\u201d and had to stay a memorial to former President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-f-kennedy\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"4031\">John F. Kennedy <\/a>alone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The board met in a much-anticipated meeting to discuss the closure and renaming, among other topics, such as its budget and the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4685872\/national-symphony-orchestra-ticket-sale-plunge\/\">financial woes<\/a> facing the National Symphony Orchestra. In this meeting, the board decided to move ahead with the renaming and the planned two-year closure of the main building, but keep the REACH wing of the facility open for performances and as a memorial to Kennedy, according to the <em>New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The board\u2019s vote will now head back to Cooper for his opinion, with the center needing to share its decision with the judge by next week, per the outlet.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cooper had written in his May decision that the board had \u201cfallen grossly short of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.287972\/gov.uscourts.dcd.287972.50.0_5.pdf\">prudent decision-making<\/a>\u201d in its March vote to close the facility, but had not ruled out the prospect that the board could, at some point, vote to proceed with plans for a closure if it took the right steps. He said the board had initially failed to consider its \u201cstatutory obligations\u201d and any possible consequences to \u201cprogramming and memorial functions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTo be clear, assuming that long-term closure of the Kennedy Center is within the Board\u2019s discretion and does not require Congressional authorization, this Court is not to substitute its judgment for the Board\u2019s as to whether a temporary but long-term closure is, all things considered, a good idea. The Court takes no position on that question,\u201d Cooper wrote in his opinion.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An appeals court backed Cooper\u2019s decision in July.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt Floca, the executive director of the Kennedy Center who previously served as vice president of facilities operations, was the official to recommend the two-year closure to Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4539086\/inside-look-kennedy-center-two-year-renovation\/\">AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE STATE OF THE KENNEDY CENTER BEFORE TWO-YEAR RENOVATION<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou can never really truly predict all of the different productions that were going to happen, and you can\u2019t predict all of the things that you\u2019re going to find when you get into a construction project,\u201d Floca said in April. \u201cSo the recommendation was just natural: You shut the building down, temporarily, and you make this investment, and then you reopen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The renovations are set to address various structural issues around the facility, including extensive\u00a0water\u00a0damage, rusting steel that feels like \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4539086\/inside-look-kennedy-center-two-year-renovation\/\">tissue paper<\/a>,\u201d and over three decades-old industrial chillers. The renovation projects are all funded by the $257 million earmarked for the Kennedy Center in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-26\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-5\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kennedy Center Board votes to close for two-year renovation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3976,"featured_media":2644498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP26212581939855.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[70190,5919,84110,84109,50057],"class_list":["post-2644497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-board-vote","tag-construction","tag-cultural-venue","tag-facility-closure","tag-kennedy-center"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP26212581939855.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2644497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2644497"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2644497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2644501,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2644497\/revisions\/2644501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2644498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2644497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2644497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2644497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}