The board of trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted Thursday to temporarily close the facility’s main building for a major renovation project, and to affix President Donald Trump’s name to the exterior facade. The decision comes months after a federal judge struck down a prior attempt to rename the cultural institution and halted a scheduled full shutdown of the venue.
Under the newly approved plan, the arts complex will undergo a $250 million overhaul, which includes structural repairs, fresh marble flooring, and $12 million dedicated to acoustical enhancements. To facilitate the work, the trustees chose “to close the Kennedy Center’s main building, while keeping a newer addition to the campus, known as the Reach, open for limited programming and to operate as an active memorial to John F Kennedy”. The main campus is scheduled to remain closed for two years, with a targeted reopening set for the summer of 2028.
In addition to the closure, the board—composed largely of presidential appointees—voted to add an inscription beneath the venue’s existing exterior signage that reads, “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J Trump.” The move directly tests a May ruling by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who determined that earlier efforts to modify the official name violated federal statute because only Congress holds the authority to alter the memorial’s designation. Cooper had previously blocked the center’s planned closure after finding the initial board vote was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained”.
Opponents of the decision quickly signaled plans for further legal action. Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who sits on the board and previously sued to stop the changes, condemned the latest vote as “a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed.” Her attorneys added, “Today’s vote is more of the same, and a show of blatant disrespect to the courts,” noting that “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.”
White House officials defended the board’s decision, praising the scope of the planned upgrades. Executive spokesperson Liz Huston stated, “Under President Trump’s bold leadership, the Kennedy Center is on its way to becoming the finest cultural institution anywhere in the world.” The board’s latest determinations remain subject to review by Judge Cooper, who will assess whether trustees conducted sufficient due diligence before submitting their updated plans next week.
Editorial credit: Amy Lutz / Shutterstock.com