The Kennedy Center

A low-slung marble edifice on the banks of the Potomac River, the Kennedy Center has been the monument to the United States’ commitment to the performing arts since it opened in 1971. Historically the home of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera, it has long hosted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and the iconic Kennedy Center Honors. In 1976, the quintessentially Washington movie All the President’s Men had its world premiere at the center.

However, the Kennedy Center became an unusual source of controversy during the second term of U.S. Pres. Donald Trump. In 2025 it was announced that the center’s board had renamed the complex The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. After months of legal wrangling, a federal judge ordered Trump’s name removed from the building. In early 2026 Trump announced the center would close in the summer for a two-year renovation, which it did in September. When Trump was seen with a poster indicating possible plans to demolish the center, area residents—fearing that Trump would do to the center what he did to the East Wing of the White House—formed a human chain around the perimeter of the building.

It was a bizarre twist for a building that had been built out of bipartisanship.

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History

The creation of a center for the arts in the nation’s capital has its roots in the administration of Republican Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who recognized that during the Cold War it was important for the United States to assert itself not just as a military giant but also as a cultural one. Eisenhower himself had seen how the world had sometimes dismissed the U.S. as a young upstart when it came to culture. In 1955 Eisenhower proposed building an auditorium to show off the brilliance of American artists, what he would later call an “artistic mecca that would be open to visitors from every land.” In 1958 he signed legislation creating a National Cultural Center.

Funding for the center would come from the federal government and the private sector. In November 1962 Democratic Pres. John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, hosted “An American Pageant of the Arts” as part of an effort to raise $30 million (equivalent to almost $333 million in 2026) to fund the project. Calling the evening star-studded could justifiably be termed an understatement considering that those who performed included singer Marian Anderson, poet Robert Frost, ballerina Maria Tallchief, pianists André Previn and Van Cliburn, comedian Bob Newhart, singer Harry Belafonte, and a seven-year-old cellist by the name of Yo-Yo Ma, who performed with his sister. Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, who would create Mass, the commission that opened the Kennedy Center in 1971, served as master of ceremonies.

In October 1963 Kennedy viewed a scale model of the National Cultural Center to be built along the Potomac River. He died some six weeks later, and Congress and Pres. Lyndon Johnson moved quickly to fund the building of what was intended as a “living memorial” to the slain president: It was formally named The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Although the center officially opened on September 8, 1971, a rehearsal performance on September 6 offered tickets for as little as $4 (equivalent to about $33 in 2026). It would hint at the center’s mission of making the arts accessible to all. In its front-page story about the opening, The New York Times called the $70 million complex “a gigantic marble temple to music, dance and drama on the Potomac’s edge.” In the center of the building’s Grand Foyer stood an 8-foot- (2.4-meter-) tall, 3,000-pound (1,360-kg) bust of Kennedy, created by famed sculptor Robert Berks, that seemed to peer down at those assembled in his honor. The complex—16 years in the making and whose planning and construction had been overseen by four presidents, two Democrats and two Republicans—had finally opened.

The inaugural Kennedy Center Honors were held in 1978 and the honorees were hosted by Pres. Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter. The first honorees to wear the now-familiar medals adorned with multihued ribbons were:

• Marian Anderson
• Fred Astaire
• George Balanchine
• Richard Rodgers
• Arthur Rubinstein

In 1997, as part of its commitment to make the arts more accessible, the Kennedy Center created the Millennium Stage, featuring free performances each night at 6:00 pm in the center’s chandelier-bedecked Grand Foyer. Among the performers to take the stage were Judy Collins, Don McLean, and the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO). The idea behind the free performances was in keeping with the tradition of the Smithsonian museums, which offer free admission. Tourists and locals alike could end a day of free museum-hopping with a free performance in a spectacular venue. In 2021, as the world was adjusting to life after COVID-19 lockdowns, Millennium Stage events were scaled back to four evenings a week. In July 2026, as the center prepared to close, Millennium Stage events moved to the REACH, part of a 2019 expansion of the center, and were further curtailed.

Campus

Designed by American architect Edward Durell Stone, the complex features a total of six stages. The three main theaters—the Opera House, the Concert Hall, and the Eisenhower Theater—can be entered from the Grand Foyer, which faces the Potomac River. The largest auditorium is the Concert Hall, which accommodates almost 2,500 people and is noted for its exceptional acoustics and its crystal chandeliers, a gift from Norway. The exterior of the Kennedy Center is marble and features ornamental facade screens for which the architect is known.

The performing arts center underwent an expansion in the 2010s to create a complex of classrooms, studios, open-air spaces, and a cafe that would become known as the REACH (an acronym for Renew, Experience, Activate, Create, and Honor). The facility opened in 2019 and became the home for community programs, including free outdoor movie screenings, art classes, and lectures.

Governance and controversy

The Kennedy Center was established as a branch under the Smithsonian Institution. Like the Smithsonian, the performing arts center has a public-private partnership with the federal government. Most of its budget comes from private funding, including ticket sales and donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. In its 2023 annual report, the Kennedy Center noted that $152 million of its budget came from ticket sales, services, and fees and $85 million from donations. Those funds cover productions and other programs. The annual report also stated that $45 million came from the government, which covers maintenance and security.

The Kennedy Center is governed by a board of trustees that includes about 24 members who serve as part of their government office. These include the librarian of Congress, the secretary of state, the mayor of Washington, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. The rest of the board members are individuals appointed by the U.S. president, who can select up to 36 additional members. Each appointee serves a six-year term, which is staggered to maintain consistency within the board. The board chair oversees this board. The president of the Kennedy Center, meanwhile, manages the day-to-day operation of the institution.

In 2025, as he entered his second term, U.S. Pres. Donald Trump reshaped the Kennedy Center’s board by removing the members who had been appointed by his predecessor, Joe Biden, and replacing them with his own appointees, including second lady Usha Vance. He soon announced that the new board had voted to install him as its chair, replacing the previous chair, David Rubenstein. That move was seen as highly unusual considering that no U.S. president had ever served on the board, let alone as chair. That same year the Kennedy Center’s president, Deborah Rutter, stepped down and was replaced by Richard Grenell, a longtime adviser to Trump on foreign policy. Grenell left in March 2026 as the center prepared to close, after a tumultuous year in which he ordered some of the center’s artwork, donated by foreign governments, to be returned. In December 2025 the center’s board announced that it had changed the center’s name to The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Members of Congress argued that changing the name of the center required congressional approval.

In February 2026 U.S. Pres. Donald Trump announced that the Kennedy Center would be closing in July for renovations. The construction was expected to take two years. Trump called the center “tired, broken, and dilapidated” and said that the renovations would transform it into “the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind.”

In June 2026 a federal court judge ordered that all references to Trump be removed from the center. That same judge also said that the center could not close unless the board of trustees provided evidence that it had considered the ramifications of closing the leading arts venue in Washington, D.C. In August the board voted to go ahead with the closure. It also proposed adding Trump’s name to the building with an inscription beneath the main sign that would read: “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” 

In September, a federal judge again ruled that only Congress can change the name of the center, despite the center’s board of trustees saying that it would be impossible to raise money without the president’s support, which would only come if his name appeared on the building. In early September a section of the ceiling of the center’s Grand Foyer collapsed during a storm. On September 15 the board again voted to immediately close the facility, which had largely ceased to operate as a performing arts venue. Also in September, Trump was seen with a poster that indicated potential plans to demolish the center. In response, a federal judge ordered that he be given 30 days’ notice before any construction work could be done. Thousands of area residents, fearing that Trump would demolish the center, as he did the East Wing for a ballroom, formed a human chain around the perimeter of the building.

Kennedy Center Honors and Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

Since 1978 the Kennedy Center has been the site of an annual gala at which a number of performers are awarded the Kennedy Center Honors. The Kennedy Center has also presented the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor each year since 1998. Winners have included Richard Pryor (1998), Whoopi Goldberg (2001), Bob Newhart (2002), Steve Martin (2005), Tina Fey (2010), Carol Burnett (2013), Bill Murray (2016), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (2018), and Conan O’Brien (2024).

When announcing the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees, which included singer George Strait, Broadway performer Michael Crawford, actor Sylvester Stallone, and rock band Kiss, Trump declared that he had been “very involved” in decision-making. The assertion suggested that the process for selecting that year’s honorees had deviated from the usual procedure. Typically honorees are chosen through a months-long proceeding with input from the Kennedy Center’s board, the performing arts community, the public, and previous recipients.

Winners of the Kennedy Center Honors are provided in the table.