President Trump announced the Kennedy Center will close for two years beginning July 4th. He says the building is in bad shape and needs repairs. Members of congress and two lawsuits contend the real reason is mismanagement, artist cancellations and declining ticket sales.
ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
The Kennedy Center gave reporters a tour of its facilities today. President Trump has said the performing arts center is in dire need of repair and that it must close for two years to complete the work. But it’s not clear that that’s the case. NPR’s Elizabeth Blair went on the tour today and joins us now here in the studio. It’s good to see you, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: Good to see you.
SCHMITZ: So you spent this morning in the bowels of the Kennedy Center. What did you see?
BLAIR: We really were in the bowels. What we saw was a lot of water damage. We saw corroded steel beams, rust on the marble facade, concrete degradation in the parking lot. We also saw electrical equipment from the 1990s.
SCHMITZ: So why show reporters all of this now?
BLAIR: Well, Matt Floca, who led the tour, definitely wanted to make the case for why the center should close to do this work. He was recently named its executive director, replacing Richard Grenell. Floca used to be its vice president of facilities. Here’s what he told us today.
MATT FLOCA: All of these improvements that we need to make, you know, are real, are needed, and we have the time frame to do it. I’m incredibly excited about it.
SCHMITZ: So he’s incredibly excited, but not everyone’s really that excited about it. Is that right?
BLAIR: That’s right. Everybody agrees the building does need repair, but Democrats say that doesn’t mean it needs to close. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse launched an investigation into what he called cronyism and corruption at the Kennedy Center. He said in a letter to Floca that he thinks mismanagement is actually the reason for the closure. Since Trump took over and put his name on the building, artists have canceled shows and ticket sales have declined.
SCHMITZ: So Trump has a lot of projects to change the look of Washington. He demolished the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom. He’s proposed a giant arch near Arlington National Cemetery. Is this renovation going to change the look of the center?
BLAIR: Matt Floca said it would not, but Trump has already had the gold columns painted white, and weeping willow trees were removed from the terrace.
SCHMITZ: Oh.
BLAIR: So here’s where there’s some mistrust. A lawsuit filed by architecture and historic preservation groups is calling for a freeze to Trump’s plans. They want those plans fully disclosed and to go through the usual approval process. I spoke with Greg Werkheiser, co-founder of Cultural Heritage Partners, which filed the lawsuit. Here’s what he said.
GREG WERKHEISER: The concern here is that we end up in another situation like happened with the East Wing of the White House, where the president made assurances to the American public that it would not be harmed on one day, and the next day it was destroyed. We can’t see anything like that happen again, and certainly not with the Kennedy Center.
SCHMITZ: So quickly, how much is this going to cost?
BLAIR: Two hundred and fifty-seven million dollars from the One Big Beautiful Bill, which was approved by Congress.
SCHMITZ: That is NPR’s cultural correspondent Elizabeth Blair. Thanks for joining us, Elizabeth.
BLAIR: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SUMMER WALKER SONG, “SPEND IT (RENT IS DUE VERSION)”)
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