Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter, brought on by Rubenstein in 2014, resigned soon after the board shake-up. Trump replaced her, on an interim basis, with diplomat Richard Grenell, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Germany during the president's first term.

Richard Grenell, the center’s new president, told a conservative gathering that the “big change” at the center would be a “huge celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas.”