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

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. Elizabeth Williamson traces how President Trump decided to take over and now shut down Washington’s biggest and most celebrated home for the arts. Guest: Elizabeth Williamson, a feature writer for The New York Times. Background reading:  Internal emails and documents demonstrate how President Trump broke the Kennedy Center.The center removed a sculpture called “Blue” that had been a gift from the artist.Photo: Salwan Georges for The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.