Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell exits, replaced by Matt Floca

President Trump announced Friday on social media that Richard Grenell, the former ambassador to Germany whom Trump named president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts more than a year ago, is resigning. Grenell will be replaced by Matt Floca, vice president of center facilities operations.

Change has been the only constant at the Kennedy Center since Trump fired the center’s board in early February 2025 and installed himself as president. A week later, amid mass defections of artists including Shonda Rhimes and Renée Fleming, Trump named Grenell, a close ally, as interim executive director, a position Grenell had held until now.

“Ric Grenell has done an excellent job helping coordinate various elements of the Center during the transition period, and I want to thank him for the exceptional work he has done,” Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that after an upcoming two-year closure for renovations, the center “will, when completed, be the finest facility of its kind in the world!”

News of the center’s impending closure came as a surprise to employees and art lovers still reeling from Trump’s announcement late last year that the board had voted to rename the venue the Trump Kennedy Center, prompting a new wave of show cancellations, including by composer Philip Glass. The Washington National Opera also announced in early January that it would leave the center.

Grenell’s tenure was marked by controversy at every step, which Grenell met with combative defiance, often criticizing artists who criticized the center’s decisions. He was also known for not granting interviews to members of the media he deemed hostile, but speaking officially only to right-wing news agencies.

The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request for comment on Grenell’s departure.