Kennedy Center Honors 2026 Moving to Washington, D.C. Arena

The Kennedy Center Honors will still take place in 2026, albeit at a Washington, D.C. arena, even as the performing arts venue remains closed amid the removal of Donald Trump’s name from the building.

A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center announced Friday that this year’s honors will take place December 7 at the Capital One Arena, home of both the Washington Wizards and Capitals. The recipients of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors will be announced at a later date.

While CBS has been the home of the Kennedy Center Honors broadcast since 1978, the spokesperson added that “the program’s broadcast partner” would also be revealed later, ABC News reported.

The annual honors ceremony appeared to be in jeopardy, especially following the news that the Kennedy Center would close for lengthy renovations, work that was tied to the president’s demand that the building legally be renamed in his honor; Trump would be unlikely to cooperate with fundraising efforts and the supposedly urgent renovations without “appropriate recognition” of his role in the project.

Soon after taking office, Trump renamed the Kennedy Center as the “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” only to have the courts enforce the removal of Trump’s name. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” U.S. District Judge Casey Cooper wrote in forcing the name to come down. “The Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so.” 

Since then, seemingly in retaliation, the Kennedy Center’s Trump-backed board has shuttered the venue for renovations that might not happen: A photo of Trump aboard Air Force One showed the president reading from a placard with the words “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.” When asked about demolishing the venue with Congress’ permission, Trump said, “We’re going to see how it plays out in court.”