Kennedy Center postponed planned repairs despite known structural problems, former employees say

Kennedy Center officials had long been aware of serious structural problems 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, failed to treat the roofing problems as priorities and in April halted a funded plan to resolve them, according to the letter signed Thursday by David Seide, an attorney representing the anonymous whistleblowers.

Floca denied their allegations, saying recent investigations into the leaks had revealed new dangers to the building.

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In a September court filing, Floca noted that there were “acute risks to public safety” when the aging building temporarily closed its doors following an inspection of the deterioration of the roof terrace awning and partial collapse of the ceiling. Former employees, however, say these “acute” problems were already known to Floca, who joined the Kennedy Center as vice president of facilities in 2024.

“More than a year ago, Mr. Floca requested and received the funds needed to address the new problems he refers to,” Seide wrote, citing President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cut bill that he signed in the summer of 2025. “Yet six months ago – with funds in hand – he blocked the repair process from moving forward.” In that legislation, Congress set aside $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 building on the Potomac River that has become one of the Republican president’s priorities in his overhaul of the nation’s capital during his second term. Trump installed his own leadership on the center’s board and had his name inscribed on the building before a judge ruled the new lettering was added illegally and ordered its removal.

The Trump-aligned board voted earlier this month to close the center indefinitely for repairs, hours after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper blocked his plan to rename the building after Trump.

Cooper told the center it must give 30 days’ notice before making major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it, as Trump has threatened. Kennedy Center leaders are also expected to file a status report by Friday on the temporary closure and emergency repairs.

Asked to respond to the whistleblowers’ claims, a Kennedy Center spokesperson sent a written statement from Floca, who said the safety of patrons, artists and staff was its priority.

“The Kennedy Center has known for years that the roof overhang is leaking,” he wrote. “What we didn’t know until this summer was how far inside the damage had extended.”

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Floca added that instead of stopping the design plans in April, as the whistleblowers claimed, he reassigned the work to a more comprehensive plan because the contractor’s quote for the initial plans was nearly three times the expected cost.

“This was a change in the approach to acquiring 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 Environment and Public Works Committee, wrote to Floca Thursday after receiving the whistleblower’s letter. Whitehouse said the documents showed that Kennedy Center leaders “hoarded” funds allocated by Congress for reparations “while blaming previous leaders for the state of reparations.”

“My initial investigation into misconduct at the Center focused on cronyism and corruption, with documents demonstrating extensive excessive and self-serving spending under President Trump,” Whitehouse said. “The documents I am attaching today appear to reveal deeper financial mismanagement.”

A spokesperson for the committee’s Republican majority did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.