The Kennedy Center board voted Thursday to add an inscription that reads, “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” below the venue’s main sign, the New York Times reported, a possible test of a judge’s order to remove Trump’s name from the facade.
By Conor Murray
Key Facts
The Kennedy Center’s board voted to add the Trump inscription at a meeting Thursday, where it also decided to close for renovations, the Times reported, citing people familiar with the meeting’s outcome.
The board, which Trump filled with allies, had voted last year to add his name to the venue, but a judge ordered the center to remove it because it violated the law that designates the ability to name the center to Congress.
The board’s resolution reportedly says the inscription is to honor Trump for bringing the center back from the “from the brink of disaster.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, who filed the original lawsuit challenging the addition of Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center, said in a statement Thursday the move is a “transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed,” vowing to “continue to fight for this treasured national monument.”
Also at Thursday’s meeting, the board voted to proceed with a plan to close the main building for renovations, while keeping a smaller building, called the Reach, open for limited programming and as a memorial to former President John F. Kennedy.
Trump has previously pushed for the center to close for renovations, calling it “tired, broken, and dilapidated,” but a judge blocked the center’s decision to close earlier this year, saying it was made based on a “one-sided presentation of information” without considering its statutory obligations.
A federal judge ruled in July the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees must file a status report informing the court about the center’s plans for future construction and operations, as well as the status of the tarp and scaffolding that still cover the building’s facade, either by Aug. 20 or within five days of the board’s August meeting. That would place the deadline at Aug. 18, five days after the board meets.
The Kennedy Center’s grand foyer would get “new furniture throughout,” as well as new marble flooring and drapes, Axios reported, citing a development plan. The plans would allocate $48 million for restoring various theaters, and theaters and lounges would get new flooring and lighting. The box office will be relocated and a new coffee shop will be constructed, as well as new restrooms for VIP guests, according to Axios.
Two months exactly. The tarps went up in the early hours of June 13 as construction workers moved to comply with a court deadline to remove Trump’s name from the venue. Before removing the letters, workers constructed scaffolding and tarps that block the majority of the sign from public view. The tarps have garnered much scrutiny from opponents of Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center. In court filings, Beatty has suggested the venue kept up the tarps to “massage broken egos.” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., called the tarps a “literal coverup” in a post on X, saying it will be a “beautiful day when the name of the Kennedy Center is restored to visibility.”
U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper ruled in May the Kennedy Center must remove Trump’s name from physical and digital branding, saying the addition of his name violated a law that designates the ability to name the venue to Congress. The law “makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy,” Cooper wrote in his ruling. Cooper also temporarily blocked the center from closing for two years for renovations, saying the board made the decision to close based on a “one-sided presentation of information” without properly considering its “full range of its statutory obligations.” The Kennedy Center’s board, which was largely hand-picked by Trump, elected Trump as chairman last year and voted to add his name to the center after he vowed to combat what he considered to be “woke” programming. The Kennedy Center is fighting Cooper’s ruling in a federal appeals court.
