Kennedy Center Board Votes to Add Trump's Name to Facade and Close for Renovations

The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted Thursday to add President Donald Trump's name to the building's facade, according to US Congresswoman Joyce Beatty.

The board also voted to proceed with a two-year closure of the performing arts venue in the US capital, Washington, D.C., for major renovations.

The decision comes after a federal judge in May ordered Trump's name to be removed from the building, ruling that only Congress can change the institution's name or authorize major alterations.

"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, a Democrat who is also an ex-officio board member, said in a statement. "I will continue to fight for this treasured national monument."

The latest vote revives a dispute that has been unfolding since Trump reshaped the center's leadership after returning to office.

Why was Trump's name on the building in the first place?

Trump became interested in the Kennedy Center's operations after winning the 2024 election. He installed a mostly handpicked board that named him chairman, and his name was added to the building's facade in December.

The move was part of a broader effort to overhaul the institution. At the time, the president also announced a two-year closure of the performing arts venue for renovations that were scheduled to begin in July.

That decision soon faced a legal challenge. In May, Judge Christopher Cooper said, "the Kennedy Center's organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board's unilateral say-so."

The Kennedy Center dispute became one of several obstacles to Trump's broader efforts to remake prominent Washington landmarks. An appeals court last week halted his planned White House ballroom after he demolished the East Wing.

His Reflecting Pool renovation also faced major problems, though he still plans to build a massive Memorial Arch.

How has the Kennedy Center board justified the move?

"In its meeting today, the board voted to change the front of the building's facade to read 'The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump,' and renamed the physical site 'the President Donald J. Trump Plaza,'" Congresswoman Beatty said.

According to The New York Times, an inscription underneath the institution's name would read: "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump."

The newspaper said the wording appears intended to avoid a provision in the federal law governing the Kennedy Center that states "no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas."