Post Reports · The Washington Post

A surprise Kennedy Center makeover

February 3, 2026·19 min·1 clip

Travis Andrews says the Kennedy Center was designed as a bipartisan place where Americans could come together through the arts.

1. Post Reports examines President Donald Trump's proposed two-year closure of the Kennedy Center and its roughly $200 million renovation. 2. Host Martin Powers interviews Washington Post style reporter Travis Andrews, whose reporting tracks Trump's changes to the performing-arts venue. 3. Andrews says the renovation plan remains unclear: Trump announced a July 4 closure while his own board and senior leaders apparently lacked advance notice. 4. Trump described marble, rats, elevators and columns as problems, but offered little evidence for his claims of disrepair. 5. Congress appropriated $257 million for the Kennedy Center last year, far above its usual roughly $45 million annual building-maintenance funding. 6. Artists including Issa Ray and Philip Glass canceled, Hamilton dropped its planned run, and Washington National Opera announced it would leave. 7. Andrews says ticket sales, subscriptions and performer participation fell, while the leadership's "common sense programming" sought shows that pay for themselves. 8. He describes the Kennedy Center as a 1971 John F. Kennedy memorial intended as a bipartisan place where Americans could share the arts. 9. Andrews says the potential loss of staff during construction raises concern about whether the institution could resume if the project stalls. 10. Listeners interested in arts institutions and political influence.

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