The Kennedy Center’s board of trustees voted Tuesday to close the iconic performing‑arts venue immediately for a two‑year renovation, according to a source familiar with the decision.
Board members said the memorial is on the brink of bankruptcy and needs extensive repairs after a partial ceiling collapse in the Grand Foyer earlier this month caused by heavy storms.
Trump’s proposed recognition blocked
Earlier Tuesday, Judge Christopher Cooper issued an order preventing the board from adding President Donald J. Trump’s name to the building or its grounds. “Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Cooper wrote.
President Trump, who serves as the board’s chairman, joined the closed‑door meeting virtually and criticized both the judge and Rep. Joyce Beatty, the Ohio Democrat who sits on the board, according to a source.
Proposed inscriptions and plaza rename
The board had voted in August to inscribe the president’s name on the façade, reading “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” If the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reaches $100 million, a second inscription would read “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.” The plaza in front of the Center would also have been renamed in his honor.
The board’s resolution argued that without such recognition, President Trump might not provide “fundamental oversight of the renovation of the main building and lead the fiscal rescue of the Center.”
Legal and political context
Judge Cooper noted the board’s plan “bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.” He previously ruled in May that only Congress can approve changes to the Kennedy Center’s name. In an emergency hearing in August, the administration claimed it was no longer seeking a rename, but merely recognizing Trump’s fundraising effort.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose wife sits on the board, likened the move to how hospitals and colleges honor major donors. Rep. Beatty’s lawyer countered that the changes violate Cooper’s earlier ruling, calling the effort “the definition of insanity” and a “vanity project for one man’s ego.”
Future of the closure
The Trump administration has announced the two‑year closure for renovations, and a federal judge is still deciding whether the board may proceed with the shutdown. President Trump has warned he could demolish the building if a judge denies the administration’s request to close it.
This story continues to develop.
Original reporting: Dallas TX News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
