The Kennedy Center board on Thursday voted to put President Donald Trump’s name back on the building’s facade, setting the stage to test a judge’s order from May that mandated its removal.
The board, made up of mostly Trump loyalists, voted 20-3 to change the name of the building to “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” while naming the center’s grounds “President Donald J. Trump Plaza,” according to attendees of Thursday’s meeting who spoke to multiple media outlets.
The board also once again voted to close the performing arts center for up to two years for renovations. Operations are set to shift to the REACH, another building on the campus, while they are completed.
“This morning’s decision to close the Center and the surprise agenda item to put Donald Trump’s name back on the building was more of the same,” Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex-officio board member who sued Trump over his changes to the center, said in a statement to news outlets. “This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed. I will continue to fight for this treasured national monument.”
Thursday’s board votes are the latest moves in an ongoing battle over Trump’s efforts to seize control of the Kennedy Center, and sets up a test of a court ruling from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper that rejected a prior attempt to change the center’s name and temporarily blocked plans to close it for renovations.
Cooper, who issued the ruling in Beatty’s lawsuit challenging the changes in May, found that renaming the venue the “Trump-Kennedy Center” violated federal law requiring the center to honor “President Kennedy and President Kennedy alone.” He also ruled that only Congress holds the power to change the center’s name.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” he wrote.
Following Cooper’s ruling, Trump’s name was removed from the building facade in June. A large tarp has been draped over the wall since then.
Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post after the ruling that he would abandon the plans to renovate the center that he announced in February, and that he had instructed the Commerce Department to work with Congress to transfer oversight of the center.
“I cannot be involved with a situation where danger to the Public is allowed to flourish in plain and open sight,” Trump wrote at the time, citing “neglect, decay, and poor maintenance.
Trump’s push to take over the Kennedy Center began just weeks into his second term, when he overhauled the board—which has historically been made up of a bipartisan group of trustees—by terminating half of its 36 members, including longtime chairman David Rubenstein. He then appointed new members in their place, who elected him as chairman.
Major backlash ensued, with many performers boycotting the venue. When Trump visited the center for a performance of Les Misérables last June, he was met with boos from the crowd. Trump also made the controversial decision to host the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, an award ceremony commemorating achievements across the arts, in December, becoming the first sitting president to do so.
Congress named the center to honor President John F. Kennedy in 1964 following his assassination in November 1963.
The Kennedy Center is far from the only piece of federal property Trump has sought to put his name or face on during his time as President. The slew of items he has moved to impress with his brand also include limited edition passports, currency, other federal buildings, battleships, and national park passes.