‘Cease entertainment’: Trump announces shock two-year closure of iconic Kennedy Center. Here's all you need to know

US President Donald Trump, who recently, amid significant backlash, added his own name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday (Feb 1), announced that the iconic Washington-based arts complex will be shut down for two years for what he described as a “complete rebuilding”. Here's all you need to know about the impending closure and why exactly the Kennedy Center is iconic.

The closure will begin on July 4, as the United States marks its 250th anniversary. However, the plan still requires formal approval from the board, which Trump personally reshaped after taking over last year.

US President Donald Trump, who now serves as chairperson of the Kennedy Center board, said the decision was necessary to carry out large-scale renovations and revive what he claims is a struggling institution.

“I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of success, beauty, and Grandeur, is to cease entertainment operations for an approximately two year period of time,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump said the centre’s regular schedule of concerts, operas, musicals and ballet performances would interfere with construction work, making a full shutdown unavoidable.

“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 added.

“America will be very proud of its new and beautiful Landmark for many generations to come.”

This comes after Trump last year sparked controversy by branding the venue the “Trump Kennedy Center” and adding his name to parts of the building, despite the complex being established by an Act of Congress signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

The law that created the memorial explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from adding any additional memorials to the site. However, the centre’s current president, Richard Grenell, a Trump appointee, has argued the renaming does not violate its status as a memorial.

The closure announcement comes amid growing backlash from performers and audiences. Since Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center's board, several high-profile artists have cancelled appearances at the centre, including the musical Hamilton, opera star Renee Fleming and composer Philip Glass.

The Washington National Opera has also announced it will leave the venue, ending a relationship that dates back more than 50 years. Television viewership of the annual Kennedy Center Honors gala fell sharply as well, dropping 25 per cent from last year, according to Nielsen.

Author and activist Maria Shriver, a member of the Kennedy family, wrote on X that the centre is struggling because “no one wants to perform there any longer” and that “everybody’s cancelling.”

According to a Washington Post review last year, ticket sales have dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic, with tens of thousands of seats left unsold.

The Kennedy Center was established as a living memorial to John F Kennedy after his assassination in 1963 and opened in 1971. The Arts Center is considered an iconic American landmark because it serves as the nation’s premier, vibrant cultural hub that for decades has honored JFK's commitment to the arts. The bustling arts center is a world-class venue for theater, dance, and music, while hosting the prestigious annual Kennedy Center Honors.