The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will go dark after 4 July, and performing arts experts say what comes next could permanently wreck the institution's cultural standing.
President Donald Trump's hand-picked board of trustees voted unanimously on 16 March to approve a two-year closure and roughly $257 million (£193 million) renovation of the Washington performing arts centre, funded through Congress's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The vote, taken at the White House, was widely expected. Trump, who serves as board chairman, treated the outcome as a formality.
