Defying Federal Judge, Kennedy Center Board Votes to Close, Inscribe Trump’s Name on Building
The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted Thursday to close the center again for renovations while keeping a smaller, separate theater open, escalating an ongoing legal battle over governance and naming rights. The Trump-allied board also approved adding an inscription beneath the building’s signage reading “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” despite a May 29 order by US District Judge Christopher Cooper blocking both a name change and a two-year closure and ruling that only Congress can rename the institution. The board had voted last December to change the center’s name to include Trump and add his name to the marble facade, prompting performers to withdraw and triggering a financial crisis; Trump has been the center’s chairman since February 2025. After a June motion was denied and a July appeals-court bid failed, the board’s new resolution directs officials to pursue “all legal means” to defend what it calls Trump’s role in the center’s survival, in a virtual meeting not open to the public.
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This story was covered in Digital Biennales and Restitution Wars Escalate