Kennedy Center staffers warned of furloughs during Trump two-year surprise renovation project

Kennedy Center staffers were warned that departments would be scaled down and “totally reduced” in some cases during President Donald Trump’s two-year renovation project.

The grim warning follows the president’s announcement that he was shutting down the iconic Washington, D.C. performing arts venue earlier this month, with construction scheduled to begin in early July.

Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell outlined to workers Tuesday how they will likely be impacted by the plans, which he described as “the total renovation” of the building.

“During this aggressive construction phase, departments will obviously function on a much smaller scale with some units totally reduced or on hold until we begin preparations to reopen in 2028,” Grenell wrote to staff in an email Tuesday, obtained by The Washington Post. “This period will mean permanent or temporary adjustments for most everyone. We will provide as much clarity and advance notice as possible.”

Grenell added that he, along with department heads, will be “evaluating the needs and making the decisions as to what these skeletal teams left in place during the facility closure and construction phase will look like.”

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While the email was light on the specifics of the plans, staffers told the Post that it signaled “preparation for mass layoffs.”

“The language of ‘renovation’ masks a leadership failure that has driven down ticket sales, donor confidence, and artistic participation,” one anonymous staffer told the outlet. “The crisis is self-inflicted.”

“What’s being presented as a renovation is, in practice, a dismantling,” the staffer added, while another said it was “all so stupid and cruel.”

In a previous statement, Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi said that “decades of gross negligence” has led to $250 million of deferred maintenance needs and that temporarily closing the institution “is the most logical choice to allow for comprehensive renovations, efficient project completion, and responsible use of taxpayer dollars.”

Trump said he was “not ripping down” the Kennedy Center but insisted the venue needs to shut down for about two years for construction and other work without patrons coming and going and getting in the way.

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His comments suggested that he intends to gut the performing arts venue as part of the process.

“I’m not ripping it down,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last week. “I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure.”

The project is Trump’s latest effort to put his stamp on a cultural institution that Congress designated as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat.

Shortly after taking office last year, Trump dismissed Kennedy Center board members who had been appointed by Democratic presidents and replaced them with loyalists, who voted to make him chairman.

He helped choose the recipients of the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, a program he avoided during his first term. He later hosted the event, and the board voted last year to rebrand the Kennedy Center by adding Trump’s name to the building and website.

Trump has made other attempts to leave a permanent mark on Washington, including the demolition of the historic White House East Wing to make way for a $400 million ballroom.