Kennedy Center

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, serving as a "living memorial" to John F. Kennedy. Located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., the center opened September 8, 1971, and hosts many genres of performance art, spanning theater, ballet, modern dance, classical music, jazz, pop, psychedelic, and folk music. The Kennedy Center is the residence of the National Symphony Orchestra.

Authorized by the National Cultural Center Act of 1958, which requires that its programming be sustained through private funds, the center represents a public–private partnership. Its activities include educational and outreach initiatives, almost entirely funded through ticket sales and gifts from individuals, corporations, and private foundations. The center receives annual federal funding to cover building maintenance and operations.

The original building, designed by Edward Durell Stone, is administered as a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution. An extension designed by Steven Holl opened in 2019.

In 1968, George London became the Kennedy Center's first executive director. In 1991, Lawrence Wilker became its first president. In 2014, Deborah Rutter became its third president and the first woman to hold the post.

In 2025, President Donald Trump dismissed the center's board of trustees and appointed new members, who elected him chairman and voted to add his name to the center. After ticket sales dropped, artists canceled performances, and the Washington National Opera ended its half-century of residence, Trump announced in February 2026 that the center would close for two years of renovations, beginning in July 2026.