President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Richard Grenell, who was appointed last year as president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, will step down from his role and transition out of the position. In a social media post, the president said he was naming Matt Floca - currently the center's vice president of facilities operations - as chief operating officer and executive director, and extended thanks to Grenell for his service.
The personnel move is slated to be formalized at a board meeting scheduled for Monday at the White House, a development that was reported earlier. The meeting is expected to be attended by the president, according to those reports.
The leadership change comes after a series of governance decisions taken last year when President Trump named himself chairman of the Kennedy Center and appointed allies to its board. In December, the institution's board voted to adopt a new formal name - the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts - with the shorter form "Trump Kennedy Center" also used by the board.
Those moves have prompted pushback. Since the governance changes and the renaming vote, many groups and artists have withdrawn from scheduled appearances at the center, citing the board changes and takeover. Democrats have argued that the renaming lacks legal force because the center's name was established by Congress. Members of John F. Kennedy's family publicly denounced the decision to change the institution's name, saying it undermined the legacy of the slain president.
In addition to the governance and naming controversies, the president said last month that he planned to close the Kennedy Center for two years beginning in July to carry out reconstruction work. The administration has said it is addressing what it describes as liberal bias and "anti-American" ideology in U.S. cultural and historical institutions since taking office, and the series of actions at the Kennedy Center is part of that stated agenda.
The announced change in operational leadership - installing Matt Floca as chief operating officer and executive director while Grenell transitions out - will be subject to formal board approval at the upcoming White House meeting. How the shift will affect programming, bookings and the center's relationships with artists and organizations will unfold as the board's decisions are implemented.