WASHINGTON -- The battle over the Kennedy Center’s future escalated Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump’s allies on the board took new steps to commemorate him with physical changes to the iconic performing arts institution that could defy a federal court order. During an hourslong meeting that was conducted virtually, the board voted to add Trump’s name to the building’s facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” The plaza in front of the building would be named after Trump and most of the space at the venue would be closed for two years to allow for substantial renovations. The changes, described by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who is an ex-officio board member, and her lawyers, amount to a dramatic test of U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper. He ruled in May that letters affixed to the building that spelled out Trump’s name were added illegally and he ordered their removal, a decision that the Republican administration failed to persuade courts to overturn. At the same time, Cooper blocked a two-year closure that was set to take effect July 5, saying an earlier board vote authorizing the shuttering was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained.” “This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed,” Beatty said in a statement. “I will continue to fight for this treasured national monument.” A Kennedy Center representative did not respond to a request for comment. Much of Thursday’s board meeting was expected to focus on the extent of closures required to allow for renovations that the Kennedy Center’s management says are needed to improve safety. In response to the judge’s criticism of the earlier vote, the institution’s leaders said they would provide the board with three options to consider. They included a complete closure or a partial closure that would allow “some continued public access and limited programming in spaces unaffected” by the work. A third option would “consider a highly limited series of phased closures to address only the centre’s most serious infrastructure needs while scheduling and maintaining a full slate of programming.” Ultimately, the board decided to close the building for two years while leaving the potential for some degree of programming to still happen in an outdoor space known as the Reach. The decision to move ahead with the two-year closure, in addition to the moves to memorialize Trump, could revive questions about whether the board seriously considered the full range of options, a point Democrats emphasized after the meeting. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who is also an ex officio board member, criticized a “sham meeting.” “What happened today was nothing more than a rubber stamp on a decision the President made months ago that the Board already tried to effectuate without doing proper due diligence,” he said in a statement. The Kennedy Center has become a metaphor for presidential power During Trump’s second term, the Kennedy Center has become an unlikely -- and highly visible -- metaphor for presidential power. While he largely ignored the institution during his first term in Washington, Trump moved quickly to oust its leadership when he returned to office in January 2025 and replaced it with a board of trustees that named him chairman. His name was quickly added to the building, before coming down in June in response to Cooper’s order. The area where it once stood is now covered by a massive tarp. The Kennedy Center moves are part of Trump’s broader push to reshape the physical landscape of the nation’s capital in ways that have few modern parallels. He demolished the East Wing of the White House and is building a controversial ballroom in its place, though an appeals court ruled last week that construction should stop because Congress didn’t approve the project. Trump has said he will take the case to the Supreme Court. His remodel of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has also stumbled after algae returned and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro refuted his claims that a vandal was responsible for the damage. Meanwhile, Trump is planning extensive renovations of a golf course in East Potomac Park, which could significantly reduce the public’s access to running and biking paths. He is also moving forward with a triumphal arch that will sit near Arlington National Cemetery. Trump has derided the Kennedy Center as “rusted, rotted, and rat and bug infested” and threatened to hand the building over to Congress after Cooper rejected the closure and the addition of the president’s name to the building. The institution’s leadership has argued that it’s in genuine need of repair and updating. Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s executive director and chief operating officer, guided a group of journalists through the building in April, highlighting severe water damage that he said corroded steel in some places as thin as tissue paper. Some pieces of equipment, including several 800-ton chillers that help cool the building, are decades old and in need of replacement. At the time, Floca said he considered doing the repairs individually but insisted it was his recommendation to Trump to close the building and move forward with the renovation all at once. “When the president asked, `How do you make these projects the best? How do you make them really excellent and deliver them efficiently?’ My recommendation was you close the building and you do everything over a definite period of time, two years,” he said. More recently, the legal battles became the subject of barbs and jokes as comedian Bill Maher accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in late June. At the start of the program, Pamella Roland DeVos, a Kennedy Center trustee appointed by Trump, described the institution as a “national cultural centre open not just for some but for every American patron who wants to experience the greatest art and expression the world has to offer.” “The responsibility that comes with it is one our board takes very seriously,” she said.
