MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The board of the Kennedy Center has voted to close the center for two years for renovations. The arts complex in Washington, D.C., is set to shut down after a July 4 celebration. NPR culture correspondent Anastasia Tsioulcas was watching. She's been covering the Trump administration takeover of the Kennedy Center and White House pressure on arts institutions more widely, and she's with us now. Good morning.
ANASTASIA TSIOULCAS, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: Did we learn anything new from yesterday's gathering?
TSIOULCAS: Truthfully, not a lot. As President Trump said to the press yesterday shortly before the vote...
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's a little late for the board 'cause we've already announced it.
TSIOULCAS: That's pretty much it, Michel. The board voted on two matters that President Trump, who is now chairman of the Kennedy Center, had already announced quite publicly. Plans for the renovation aren't public. We've made repeated requests to learn more and to learn who are the experts President Trump has repeatedly stated have been consulted on this project, but the Kennedy Center has declined to respond. We've also asked about the transparency of the project - if the construction bids will be made public, for example - but that also has not been answered. President Trump said yesterday, as he has before, that this project is fully funded, but that's all we know as of now.
The Kennedy Center said in a press release yesterday it was a unanimous decision by the voting board members, all of whom were picked by Trump to serve. One - that the Kennedy Center will be closed as of July 4 for two years of renovations. And two - that Richard Grenell, who's served as head of the center since February 2025, is departing. He's being replaced by Matt Floca, the center's current vice president of operations. Now, Floca is like Grenell. He has no experience as an arts administrator. Floca's been promoted to chief operating officer and executive director. So Floca will essentially be running a construction site for the next two years.
MARTIN: So what was it like going into the vote? Like, what was the vibe?
TSIOULCAS: President Trump held a press event shortly before the vote. He was surrounded by allies. He was flanked by House Speaker Mike Johnson and his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, who announced yesterday morning that she's being treated for early-stage breast cancer. And also in attendance were two billionaires closely aligned with Trump, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and the casino magnate Steve Wynn. And Trump took the opportunity to slam past programming at the Kennedy Center and took particular aim at the National Symphony Orchestra. Let's take a listen.
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TRUMP: The programming was very woke and out of touch with reality. And we had an orchestra that lost, like, $18 million a year, and we - they subsidized it every year. I said, what kind of an orchestra loses $18? And I'm being nice when I say $18. It was much more.
TSIOULCAS: It's unclear, Michel, where Trump got that number. According to their most recently filed federal tax reforms (ph) from 2024, the National Symphony Orchestra broke even.
MARTIN: Well, just - I just think it's important to sort of point out that the president's really critical of a number of arts entities and institutions that no longer want to perform at the Kennedy Center because of the changes that he's made. So has there - was there any pushback to this vote?
TSIOULCAS: Yes, but none that seems very meaningful at this juncture. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the Democrat from Rhode Island, is an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center Board. That means he has a seat because of his elected office. He said in a written statement he has no intention of rubber-stamping Trump's plan. Another ex officio board member is Representative Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio, who filed a federal lawsuit against the president back in December about the Kennedy Center. Her legal team is still pressing a judge to let her vote, but as of yesterday, she still couldn't.
MARTIN: All right. That is NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas. Anastasia, thank you.
TSIOULCAS: Thanks for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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