Trump Orders Removal of Joel Shapiro Sculpture at Kennedy Center
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
The National Park Service will dismantle Joel Shapiro’s "Blue" sculpture at the Kennedy Center on September 2, 2026, following a directive from President Donald Trump, prompting criticism from former staff and arts activists.
The National Park Service announced that a crane will be used to remove Joel Shapiro’s "Blue" sculpture from the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on September 2, 2026. The removal follows a directive from President Donald Trump, who has been overseeing a series of changes to the center’s facilities.
Josef Palermo, a former curator of visual arts and special programming at the Kennedy Center, expressed concern over the lack of prior notice, stating, "The Kennedy Center is in effect holding these pieces in trust for the American people, and there should be a lot more transparency."
The sculpture, installed outside the REACH theater expansion in 2019, is owned by a trust that will decide its future location. The REACH, a $250 million expansion funded largely by philanthropist David Rubenstein, was added to the center in recent years.
Arts-focused activist group Hands Off The Arts issued a statement on Instagram criticizing the decision and indicating that a planned protest had been postponed while alternative actions were considered.
Legal filings related to the Kennedy Center have highlighted ongoing disputes over the center’s name and proposed renovations, with administration lawyers arguing that parts of the facility are "structurally unsound, fundamentally unsafe, and embarrassing to the Nation’s Capital."
President Trump has made multiple alterations to the Kennedy Center’s leadership and board since returning to office, part of broader efforts to modify the venue’s appearance and operations.