Kennedy Center officials were long aware of serious structural issues that they cited as new problems after the abrupt decision to close the performing arts venue this month, a group of former employees allege in a letter to Congress.
The center’s executive director and chief operating officer, Matt Floca, did not treat the roofing issues as priorities and in April halted a funded plan to address them, according to the letter Thursday signed by David Seide, a lawyer representing the anonymous whistleblowers.
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The Kennedy Center, which has been fenced off and closed to the public, is seen through a fence, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
People protest outside the Kennedy Center over the threats by President Donald Trump to demolish the performing arts center, in Washington, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
A security guard standing outside during a demonstration a the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, in Washington. ( (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A "Do Not Enter" sign is pictured on the fence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Floca denied their allegations, saying recent investigations of the leaks exposed new hazards at the building.
In a September court declaration, Floca noted there were “acute risks to public safety" when the aging building temporarily closed its doors after an inspection of a deteriorating roof terrace canopy and a partial ceiling collapse. The former employees, however, claim those “acute” issues were known previously by Floca, who joined the Kennedy Center as vice president of facilities in 2024.
“More than one year ago, Mr. Floca had requested and received the needed funds to remediate the New Problems he references," Seide wrote, citing President Donald Trump's tax cut and spending bill that he signed in the summer of 2025. “Yet six months ago – with the funds in hand – he stopped the remediation process from moving forward.” In the legislation, Congress earmarked $257 million for the Kennedy Center.
The letter, first reported by The New York Times, is the latest in a series of tensions over an iconic Potomac River waterfront building that has become a focus of the Republican president in his remaking of the nation's capital in his second term. Trump has installed his own leadership to the center's governing board and had his name placed on the building before a judge ruled the new lettering was illegally added and ordered it removed.
The Trump-aligned board voted earlier this month to close the center indefinitely for repairs hours after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper blocked its plans to return Trump’s name to the building.
Cooper has told the center that it must give 30 days' notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it, as Trump has threatened. The Kennedy Center leadership also must file a status report no later than Friday on the temporary closure and emergency repairs.
Asked for a response to the whistleblowers' claims, a Kennedy Center spokesperson sent a written statement from Floca, who said the safety of patrons, artists and staff is his priority.
“The Kennedy Center has known for years that the roof overhang leaked," he wrote. "What we did not know until this summer was how far the damage had spread inside it.”
Floca added that rather than halting design plans in April as the whistleblowers alleged, he had reassigned the work to a more comprehensive plan because the contractor’s quote for the initial plans were nearly three times the expected cost.
“That was a change in the approach to procuring and delivering the work, not a determination that the work was unnecessary,” Floca wrote.
Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, wrote Floca on Thursday after receiving the whistleblower letter. Whitehouse said the documents showed Kennedy Center leadership had “hoarded” congressionally appropriated funding for repairs “while blaming previous leadership for the state of repairs.”
“My initial investigation into misconduct at the Center focused on cronyism and corruption, with documents demonstrating considerable excessive and self-serving spending under President Trump’s chairmanship," Whitehouse said. “The documents that I attach today seem to reveal deeper financial mismanagement.”
A spokesperson for the committee's Republican majority did not immediately reply to a request for comment Saturday.
The Kennedy Center, which has been fenced off and closed to the public, is seen through a fence, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
People protest outside the Kennedy Center over the threats by President Donald Trump to demolish the performing arts center, in Washington, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
A security guard standing outside during a demonstration a the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, in Washington. ( (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A "Do Not Enter" sign is pictured on the fence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
