The Kennedy Center's Trump-aligned board voted Thursday to put the president's name back on the building and shut down the main complex for two years of renovations — directly defying a federal judge who blocked both moves just months ago.
The fight is over who controls the cultural institutions American taxpayers fund. The left treats the Kennedy Center as its private stage. Trump's board says it's time for a renovation and a name credit. A federal judge says not so fast.
The board voted to add the phrase "Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump" to the end of the center's formal name, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, according to Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, a Democratic board member. In May, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that renaming the center after both Kennedy and Trump violated federal law. Cooper also blocked a planned two-year closure, writing that no board members had "sufficient information" to justify the shutdown.
This time, the board kept Kennedy's name and framed Trump's as a renovation credit — a work-around the judge will now have to weigh. Beatty called it "a transparent effort to circumvent the Court's ruling" that "flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed." Her attorneys, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, wrote: "The court already ruled against the board when it bowed to Trump's demands. Now, the defendants must answer for their actions—again—in court."
The White House pushed back. Spokesperson Liz Huston said: "Under President Trump's bold leadership, the Kennedy Center is on its way to becoming the finest cultural institution anywhere in the world."
The $250 million renovation plan includes structural repairs, new marble floors, and nearly $12 million in "acoustical improvements," NPR reported. The main building would close until summer 2028. The REACH, a 2019 addition, stays open for limited programming and as a memorial to Kennedy. The famed eight-foot bronze bust of Kennedy in the main foyer gets temporarily moved.
The board meeting was held by Zoom and was not open to the public. Democratic ex-officio trustees told the Washington Post they still hadn't been given access to assessments of what a two-year closure means for the institution's long-term viability. Trump chairs the center personally and appointed the majority of the current board.
NPR raised quiet questions about the construction management firm named in the plans, JLL — it's unclear whether JLL has experience with arts venues built for unamplified performance, or how many firms bid on the contract, or how JLL was selected. On a $250 million taxpayer-funded project, those aren't trivial details.
The board's decisions still require Judge Cooper's approval. Beatty's team is heading back to court. The real question for ordinary Americans who pay for this building: who decides what happens to it — the people who fund it, the judge who oversees it, or the board that packed it?
