Trump’s Kennedy Center shutdown plan jolts workers and performers

NEW YORK - The abrupt announcement by US President Donald Trump that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts would

close in the

summer of 2026

for a two-year construction project plunged the Washington cultural institution into uncertainty on Feb 2, raising questions about where its orchestra would play and what would happen to its subscribers and its hundreds of employees.

“We’re kind of in shock right now,” said Ms Anne Vantine, president of a union local that represents box office workers. She said she spent much of the night after the President’s announcement fielding calls and texts from Kennedy Center employees who were fearful of losing their jobs.