The Life and, for Now, the Death of the Kennedy Center

About this episode

<p>For 50 years, the Kennedy Center was a sprawling public home for opera, theater, jazz and free programs. Last week, it closed its doors for the time being.</p><p>Elizabeth Williamson traces how President Trump decided to take over and now shut down Washington’s biggest and most celebrated home for the arts.</p><p>Guest: <strong>Elizabeth Williamson</strong>, a feature writer for The New York Times.</p><p>Background reading:&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Internal emails and documents demonstrate how President Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/us/politics/trump-kennedy-center.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">broke the Kennedy Center.</a></li><li>The center <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/arts/design/kennedy-center-sculpture-removal-blue.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">removed a sculpture called “Blue”</a> that had been a gift from the artist.</li></ul><p>Photo: Salwan Georges for The New York Times</p> <p><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily"><strong>nytimes.com/thedaily</strong></a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. </p><p> </p><p>Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.</p></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>