{"id":69116,"date":"2026-03-16T17:55:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T22:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/16\/trump-kennedy-centers-board-votes-unanimously-to-approve-257m-renovations-and-two-year-closure\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T17:55:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T22:55:04","slug":"trump-kennedy-centers-board-votes-unanimously-to-approve-257m-renovations-and-two-year-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/16\/trump-kennedy-centers-board-votes-unanimously-to-approve-257m-renovations-and-two-year-closure\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Kennedy Center’s board votes unanimously to approve $257M renovations and two-year closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plans to shutter the Trump Kennedy Center were made official through a board of trustees vote on Monday afternoon, setting up a two-year renovation process<\/a> that some Democratic lawmakers believe should have required more congressional input.<\/p>\n

The board unanimously approved the changes, according to a source familiar with the vote.<\/p>\n

The source also said the board had set July 6 as the official closure date, installed Matt Floca, the center’s vice president of facilities operations, as the new president of the Trump Kennedy Center and ended its exclusive affiliation<\/a> with the Washington Opera.<\/p>\n

The overhaul will include fixes to the building\u2019s heating, ventilating, air-conditioning systems and elevators, among other structural renovations,<\/a> according to plans for the project submitted to Congress.<\/p>\n

BOARD VOTES KENNEDY CENTER TO BE RENAMED ‘TRUMP-KENNEDY CENTER,’ LEAVITT SAYS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Allocations for the project, set aside in Trump\u2019s Big Beautiful Bill, are set to cost $257 million.<\/p>\n

Last year, Trump installed a hand-picked set of board members, leading Democratic critics to condemn the center’s management and its renovation as direct control from the White House.<\/p>\n

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., an ex officio member of the board, blasted Monday\u2019s vote, arguing the renovations were made unilaterally.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, recent actions by the president and certain board members have treated the center like a personal vanity project, including firing career management staff, removing trustees and sidelining ex officio members who are meant to provide congressional oversight,”<\/a> Warner said on Monday.<\/p>\n

GRAMMY WINNER ACCUSED OF CAVING TO ‘WOKE MOB’ AFTER KENNEDY CENTER CANCELLATION<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Ex officio members provide lawmakers input on the management of the Kennedy Center.<\/p>\n

Ric Grenell, the now-former Kennedy Center president, pushed back on characterizations from Democrats, stating that lawmakers have had multiple opportunities to speak into the process.<\/p>\n

EXCLUSIVE: TRUMP-LED KENNEDY CENTER NEARLY DOUBLES FUNDRAISING FROM BIDEN ERA, SMASHING RECORD WITH $23M HAUL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“We gave all that information to Congress. It was in the Big Beautiful Bill. We didn\u2019t just come up with the $257 million number.<\/a> We actually gave them specifics as to what needed to be fixed,” Grenell said.<\/p>\n

“My reaction is \u2014 last summer we gave you this information, you could have joined any number of the tours we were giving to members of Congress.”<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump<\/a> framed the renovations as key restorations.<\/p>\n

“Subject to board approval, 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 in a Truth Social post<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n

Trump promised the center would return with a “grand reopening” after the renovations are complete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plans to shutter the Trump Kennedy Center were made official through a board of trustees vote on Monday afternoon, setting up a two-year renovation process that some Democratic lawmakers believe should have required more congressional input. The board unanimously approved the changes, according to a source familiar with the vote. The source also said the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}