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President Donald Trump said he would shut the Kennedy Center, Washington’s top performing arts facility, for two years for a “complete” renovation, in his latest move to remake the US capital in his image.
Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post on Sunday, saying the temporary closure beginning on July 4 would help transform the facility into a venue with the “highest level of success, beauty and grandeur”.
The US president has already attempted to put his stamp on the Kennedy Center, which opened in 1971 as a tribute to the late Democratic president John F Kennedy, by placing top aides at its helm, including Richard Grenell, a special envoy and former US ambassador to Germany, as its president.
Trump also sought to rename the venue as the “Trump Kennedy” centre and has used it for high-profile events such as the Fifa World Cup draw in December and a top US-Saudi investment forum in November.
But as Trump sought to take control of the US capital’s top entertainment and culture venue — which hosts orchestra, opera, musical and theatrical performances — it has suffered high-profile cancellations.
Most recently, composer Philip Glass scrapped a planned performance of his new symphony, saying the Kennedy Center’s “values” were in “direct conflict with the message of the symphony”.
Trump said the reconstruction of the Kennedy Center has already been financed in full, though he did not offer additional details on the funding of the project.
The decision follows his move to tear down the East Wing of the White House to construct a $400mn ballroom, and cover the lawn of the Rose Garden with concrete to turn it into a patio.
Trump has recently said he wants to build a massive arch near Arlington Cemetery, along the model of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
“I’d like it to be the biggest one of all. We’re the biggest powerful nation,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Saturday night as he travelled to Florida for the wedding of one of his top aides, Dan Scavino.
According to the Washington Post, Trump’s arch, which is intended to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence, would be about 250ft tall, which would make it higher than the nearby Lincoln Memorial.