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Thousands protest at the Kennedy Center after its board voted to close it
September 19, 2026
Demonstrators ringed the Kennedy Center in Washington after its board voted to close the building indefinitely for repairs and a judge blocked adding Trump's name to it.
The Kennedy Center is a performing arts institution on the Potomac River waterfront in Washington, established by Congress as a living memorial to a slain president, and Trump began installing favorites on its governing board in 2025.
Key facts
- Setting aside the $257 million given for renovation, outlays for that fiscal year exceeded what came in by close to $47 million, a steep fall from the figures on the institution's prior return.
- Over 19 months, Donald Trump has cast himself as the rescuer of the Kennedy Center.
- Crowds assembled on the sidewalks outside the Kennedy Center in Washington to oppose shutting it, and many said they feared the president means to tear the place down, after he was seen carrying a placard that read: ‘Kennedy Center DEMOLIS ...’
- The crowd included people dressed as inflatable animals and a man wearing a golden Trump mask and crown whose sign read: “Restore my name in gold you sycophants.” Another demonstrator had on a blue hat reading: “Make America intelligent again.”
- The center, among the best known structures along the Potomac waterfront, has sat at the heart of the president's reshaping of the capital, dating to 2025, when allies of his own choosing began taking seats on the governing board.
The Guardian reports that demonstrators filled the streets of the Foggy Bottom area of Washington and locked down traffic as they joined a protest billed as Hands Around the Kennedy Center, beating drums and waving signs. Hands Off the Arts set up the gathering, and its co-founder Chris Raleigh told The Guardian he hoped the event would show a public ready to resist what Trump plans for the building. The Guardian also reports the sequence behind the crowd: on Tuesday the board, whose members side with the president, voted for an indefinite closure for repairs. That vote came hours after Christopher Cooper, a US district judge, stopped the board from putting Trump's name back on the building, and on Thursday the judge ordered 30 days' notice before any major physical change, demolishing it included. In Oval Office remarks, Trump said he would be willing to save a center that, by his account, loses money, and he did not answer a question about demolition.
The Atlantic reports on a previously unseen federal tax filing that covers the final months of the old leadership and roughly seven months under Trump. The Atlantic reports that once $257 million of renovation money is taken out of revenue, spending for the fiscal year appears to exceed income by close to $47 million. Two experts cautioned to The Atlantic that the return does not carry enough information to make that calculation cleanly, and Michael Kaiser, who once ran the Kennedy Center and now consults on arts management, told The Atlantic that a 990 combines operating revenue and expenses with capital funding, which makes underlying performance hard to isolate. The Atlantic also reports that artists canceled performances, part of the audience began a boycott and some donors pulled back, and that officials recently warned the organization was nearing bankruptcy.
The New York Times ties the rally to fears that Trump means to demolish the building. The Washington Post reports thousands gathered outside a shuttered center, chanting against the plans. The vote to close, the judge's orders, and the size of the protest are corroborated across the coverage. What the filing does not settle is the source of the revenue increase it records, and the fate of the building rests with the court.
Still developing
The filing does not show what generated the increase in revenue, and the legal battle over the March decision to shut down and over Trump's name on the building is before the court at the time of draft.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- The Atlantic — What the Kennedy Center’s Tax Return Reveals
- The Guardian — Thousands protest closure of the Kennedy Center amid fears Trump is set to demolish the institution
Toggle read the full reports of 2 of the 5 outlets counted on this event. The other 3 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.