The Kennedy Center is preparing for a two-year shutdown starting July 4, President Donald Trump announced Sunday.
The temporary shutdown is to allow for construction on the building, which Trump described as “tired, broken, and dilapidated.”
“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,” Trump posted in a lengthy Truth Social post Sunday evening. “In other words, 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.”
“Financing is completed, and fully in place” he added, without offering details.
Trump said the Kennedy Center closure will last for at least two years “in honor of the 250th Anniversary of our Country.”
The decision comes after weeks of performers pulling out of their shows at the storied venue following Trump’s move to fire most of its board and stock it with allies who voted last year to rename the storied arts institution “The Donald J. Trump And The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
“Performing there has become charged and political, at an institution where the focus should be on the music,” Grammy-award winner Béla Fleck said in his announcement suspending his upcoming performance. “I look forward to playing with the [National Symphony Orchestra] another time in the future when we can together share and celebrate art.”
In addition to the artist cancellations, The Washington Post reported in late October that the Kennedy Center’s ticket sales had significantly fallen since Trump’s leadership takeover, with nearly half of the fall schedule’s tickets unsold by the time of publishing.
“This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center, one that has been in bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years, and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment, far better than it has ever been before,” Trump wrote in his post.
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