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Could Closing the Kennedy Center Sink the National Symphony Orchestra?
On Sunday night U.S. President Donald Trump took to social media to announce a proposal to close the newly renamed Trump Kennedy Center for two years, starting on July 4, 2026 (Independence Day in the U.S.), to begin construction on a new entertainment complex in its place. The proposal is subject to board approval, according to the same post.
The Kennedy Center.
The two-year shuttering of the Kennedy Center would most certainly have implications for the National Symphony Orchestra, a Kennedy Center "artistic affiliate" which rehearses and performs at the venue for most of its year-round season, during which it gives about 180 concerts. The Kennedy Center also contributes some $10 million a year to the NSO’s $42 million budget, under its affiliate agreement that has been in place since 1986, according to the New York Times.
The Kennedy Center, which underwent a major expansion and renovation in 2019, has been embroiled in controversy since Trump took over as chairman of its board in February 2025, ousting Democratic board members, purging much of its professional staff and canceling certain already-scheduled events for political reasons. In December, Trump-appointed members of the board voted to rename the center the "The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts," or the "Trump Kennedy Center."
The result has been a rash of boycotts and cancellations over the last year, the latest by composer Philip Glass. The Washington National Opera, in residence at the center since 1971, announced its decision to leave the Kennedy Center on Jan. 9.
Ticket sales for performances at the Kennedy Center have plummeted in the last year, with attendance down by about 50 percent for National Symphony Orchestra concerts, according to the New York Times.
Specific plans about the nature of the new entertainment center were not revealed, nor were any provisions for current tenants of the center.
EDITOR'S NOTE: According an article late Monday in The Washington Post: While staff and even some board members were blindsided by the announcement on Truth Social that the Kennedy Center would close for two years, "one of the few things that became clear on Monday afternoon is that the center plans to continue funding the National Symphony Orchestra, and has agreed to find it alternative places to perform, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post."
Related stories:
- Philip Glass Pulls Symphony Premiere from Kennedy Center
- NSO Musicians and Kennedy Center Reach Tentative Deal after Brief Strike
- J.D. Vance Booed at the Kennedy Center: Violinist Kavakos Responds
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Replies
Perhaps "Epstein Island Members' Center" would be more appropriate.
The venue has not been renovated in over six years.
There's also The National Opera Orchestra which is a separate entity from National Symphony and with the Opera splitting from The KENNEDY Center I wonder if they'll have the budget to sustain the orchestra even though other venues have been announced. With National Symph, if it was just a matter of finding another venue that would be one thing but to lose millions in funding as well is another level of pain. Strathmore, Lisner, DAR Hall, there are other venues. Other venues in the area have seen a spike in attendance and sales since the takeover of the Kennedy Center the audience for the orchestra is still there. There is no ill will in general for the musicians just the situation.
I grew up playing in the Kennedy Center since the age of five as many of us who came up through the DC Youth Orchestra Program did. Even now when I perform there as an adult, memories of running up and down the red carpeting come rushing back. It's more than just a building it is a place that has a soul. My favorite thing to do when I'm backstage is to gaze at the pictures of the great violinists past and present who have performed there.
This all seems retaliatory and petty. To destroy a cultural center that has enriched so many lives is cruel and vindictive. A professor once told me that before the fall of any great empire there is a decline in the arts.
Greetings,
One useful aspect of the closure is that it shuts down a venue for dissent. Once the story slides off the radar screen we will no longer hear about artists expressing contempt for the establishment by boycotting the place.
The main one remains, I suppose, the erasure of the Kennedy legacy and a tyrant’s onanistic fantasies of marble arm rests.
Sadly,
Buri
Let's see...homelessness, healthcare costs, inflation, an eroding education system, climate change, gun violence and this administration's focus is building a massive ballroom and renovating the Kennedy Center which immediately began losing money since it's renaming. That should show everyone where the priorities of this administration lie.
When Trump took over and then renamed the Kennedy Center, I joked that he was going to reconfigure the opera house or concert hall to hold crass sporting events like the WWE. Sadly, this now looks like it will become a reality. Let's hope that Congress and 'We the People' will step in and stop this affront to American culture and humanity. But, so far, they've failed to do anything to put a halt to this imperial monster.
EDITED TO ADD: Tom Service's book 'Music as Alchemy, Journeys with Great Conductors and their Orchestras' is an interesting and readable study in leadership.
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February 2, 2026 at 10:50 PM · Discussed on NPR's All Things Considered radio show. By coincidence it aired just as I was opening Laurie's post.