The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was conceived, as its name indicates, as a memorial to the media-savvy Democratic president, assassinated eight years before the building’s inauguration in 1971. The whim of another president, Donald Trump, determined to put his name on the cultural center, could soon lead to its definitive closure.
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Hours after a federal judge banned the center from reinstating Trump’s name on the building, the Kennedy Center board, appointed by the president himself, voted on Tuesday to immediately close the building for two years to begin remodeling work, valued at more than 250 million dollars. Trump quickly threatened to close the center, which for five decades has housed the main theater, musicals, opera, and dance productions in the U.S. capital.
Donald Trump, President of the U.S.
“Renovation cannot begin until the Court of Appeals rules on the name approved by the board”
“The closure will take place immediately,” the president announced on his platform, Truth Social, shortly after the ruling and the board’s vote. “The renovation and reconstruction, which constitute a very large and complex project, cannot begin until the District of Columbia Court of Appeals rules on the name approved by the board,” he added.
“If the ruling is negative, as it should not be, and is not overturned by the Supreme Court, the Kennedy Center reconstruction will not take place. The Department of Justice lawyers will request that the appeal be processed urgently,” Trump stated in his post, threatening to close the Kennedy memorial if he ultimately cannot have his own name on it.
At the start of his second term, in February 2025, Trump dismissed the Kennedy Center board members and appointed loyal allies, who in turn elected him chairman of the board. This board approved renaming the complex as the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and installed his name on the facade above that of the late president. The move caused massive show cancellations, artist boycotts, and a drastic drop in donations and subscriptions.
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Finally, in May of this year, Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the board had exceeded its powers by renaming the building, since Congress is the body responsible for changing the institution’s name, and ordered the removal of the letters bearing Trump’s name. The board then covered the facade area with scaffolding and white tarps so that neither his name nor Kennedy’s appeared. In August, the board changed its strategy and voted, but this time not to change the official name, but to add a sponsorship recognition: “Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” On Tuesday, however, the judge again rejected this change, accusing the board of “linguistic gymnastics.”
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“President Trump is holding the Kennedy Center hostage unless he can put his name on this sacred monument,” denounced Representative Joyve Beatti, a Democrat from Ohio and one of the former board members who exposed the president’s maneuvers. “The court has just rejected this proposal for the second time. This illegality is as outrageous as it is unfair, and it must end.”
Trump promised to save the Kennedy Center, which he claimed had been taken over by ‘woke’ ideology, but he has only managed to bring it to ruin: from the expected revenue of 220 million dollars for this year, the board now only anticipates about 120 million, a budget shortfall that has forced staff cuts and program cancellations. Among other things, season subscriptions fell by 36% in its first year, private donations by another 25%, and ticket sales by more than 60%.
After the justice rejection, the Kennedy Center board opted for an alternative strategy: putting Trump’s name as recognition
To hide his failure, and to be able to put his name, Trump has insisted on arguing that the building is falling apart and needs remodeling. The Trumpist board has pushed the narrative that the Kennedy Center is in a state of “critical deterioration and imminent danger” to justify the total closure of the building for a period of two years. Now Trump threatens not to reopen the cultural center if his name does not appear on the facade, and his administration has even argued that if it cannot be remodeled, it will deteriorate until it becomes a decrepit structure that must be demolished.
The cultural center spokesperson, Roma Daravi, said that safety has been prioritized above all and described the works as “very overdue and desperately needed to protect the safety of spectators, artists, and employees” and assured that they remain committed to carrying out the renovation “by all legal means,” despite Trump’s statements.
To alert about the building’s insecurity, Trump said on Tuesday that on September 4 a section of plaster from the ceiling collapsed during a storm and claimed that “if the building had been open, innocent people would have died.” Although the center’s deterioration is evident, so are the president’s maneuvers to achieve what he has been trying to do since the beginning of his term: put his name and leave a mark on as many buildings as possible in the U.S. capital.
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