The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will close this summer for two years of renovations, the center’s Trump-appointed board unanimously voted on Monday.
The president has insisted the lengthy closure is necessary to carry out sweeping updates to the nation’s flagship arts center, which has suffered a string of artist cancellations in recent months under the Trump administration.
“What I know best in the world is construction,” Trump said Monday at the White House. “The best way to do it is close it, do it properly and reopen it, have a grand reopening. And when it’s finished it’s going to be far better than it was when it was originally built.”
The vote comes after an announcement on Friday that Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell was stepping down.
Last year, Trump cleaned house at the Kennedy Center, replaced its typically bipartisan leadership with a board of allies, and attempted to officially add his name to the center’s title, a move critics say is not legal.
The board also installed Trump as its chairman last February.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.
