Kennedy Center board votes to close main building after judge blocks Trump name

Administrators warned building is unsafe and finances are weeks from bankruptcy

The Kennedy Center’s board of directors voted Tuesday to close the historic arts venue’s main building in a meeting that began minutes after a federal judge once again blocked a plan to put President Trump’s name on the facade.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, in a 22-page decision, ruled that the board cannot rename the building’s physical grounds “The President Donald J. Trump Plaza” or restore Trump’s name to the building’s exterior. “Simply put,” Cooper wrote, “Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing. The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.”

Trump responded with a written statement: “The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name. If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.”

The plaintiff in the federal suit, Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat of Ohio and an ex officio member of the board, filed Trump’s statement with the federal judge, according to NPR. She originally sued last December to stop the board from renaming the institution “The Trump Kennedy Center.” Beatty’s lawsuit does not address the renovation plans. In a statement emailed to NPR on Tuesday afternoon, Beatty wrote: “The law is extremely clear: The John F. Kennedy Center is named for President Kennedy – and no one else. But President Trump is holding the Kennedy Center hostage unless he can put his name on this sacred memorial. The Court just rejected this proposal for the second time. This unlawfulness is as breathtaking as it is wrong, and it needs to stop.”

Cooper left open whether the board may eventually name its planned $100 million fundraising campaign “The Trump Kennedy Center Fund” or include any plaque or other such signage at the center. He noted, however, that “The fund has raised nothing yet.” The board had argued publicly and in court that using Trump’s name was essential to fundraising at the scale required and that the president was the only person who could oversee the renovation project.

Administrators told the board in recent days that the physical plant of the complex’s main building is unsafe and that the institution’s finances are “within weeks” of bankruptcy, according to NPR. Kennedy Center officials did not reply to NPR’s requests for comment.

Even before Tuesday’s vote, the Kennedy Center was already operating at what NPR described as a skeletal version of itself: ticket sales had plummeted, many prominent artists had canceled planned appearances citing the building’s politicization under Trump, and most of the administrative staff had already been fired or had left. The board’s resolution pledges “continued programming in the REACH and offsite,” as well as continued support for the National Symphony Orchestra and the continuation of the Kennedy Center Honors and Mark Twain Prize. The resolution adds that “a two-year closure of the main building will not unduly affect its ability to ramp up programming in a revitalized main building in 2028.”

A smaller, fairly recently opened extension called the REACH will remain open, in part to fulfill the congressional mandate making the living memorial to President John F. Kennedy open and accessible to the public.

Most of the board’s current members are Trump allies chosen by the president, who also now serves as the institution’s chair, according to NPR. Members include former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Fox host Laura Ingraham, and Dana Kraft, the wife of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. NPR reported that the board has no known experience in the administration of a performing arts institution.

The Kennedy Center’s last president, former Ambassador Richard Grenell, had sought to require that every performance be revenue-generating or at least revenue-neutral. The current executive director and chief operating officer, Matt Floca, was elevated from his position as head of facilities and has no prior experience in artistic direction, fundraising, or arts administration, NPR reported.

A lengthy memorandum circulated to the board before the vote and obtained by NPR on Monday addressed only the physical plant and did not detail how programming would “ramp up” in the years ahead. Prominent performers presented by the Kennedy Center typically schedule their appearances years in advance.