The Kennedy Center began laying off staff on Thursday, according to a report in the Washington Post. The cuts, which employees say affected multiple departments, are tied to President Donald Trump’s plan to shut down the Washington, D.C., cultural institution for two years, which was approved by its board earlier this month.
Included in the layoffs were the Kennedy Center’s executive vice president Nick Meade and vice president Rick Loughery, both of whom were installed in their roles by the center’s former president Richard Grenell, a Trump loyalist hired a year ago to overhaul the institution’s “woke” programming. Trump and the rest of the board replaced Grenell, whose tenure was marked by slumping ticket sales and public backlash, earlier this month with Matt Floca.
The cuts follow a year-long saga that began in February 2025, when Trump announced plans to fire existing Kennedy Center board members, including chairman David Rubenstein, and replace them with his allies. That December, the president renamed the venue the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, sparking protests and a wave of cancelations by prominent performers and performing arts groups, including composer Philip Glass and the Washington National Opera.
Last month, in a move widely viewed as a face-saving measure amid these cancelations, Trump announced that the Kennedy Center would close for two years for renovations starting July 4. This month, preservation groups sued Trump and the board, along with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, seeking to block the planned renovation.
While more than 100 employees of the center have left or been laid off since Trump’s takeover, this will be the first time that Trump supporters have been included in staff cuts. More layoffs and furloughs are expected.
