[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2278616953.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tThe board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted Thursday to close the center for renovations for a second time, while keeping a smaller, separate theater open. <\/p>\n
\n\tThis week\u2019s vote marked a dramatic escalation in the legal battle over the historic center: the Trump-allied board also moved to inscribe the president\u2019s name beneath the signage\u2014a direct rebuke of a May federal court order that had blocked both the closure and a name change. According to the New York Times<\/em>, the board has approved an inscription beneath the center\u2019s name reading: \u201cRestored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tThe Kennedy Center board voted last December to change the institution\u2019s name to include Trump and to add his name to the marble facade, triggering a financial crisis as performers began dropping from the roster in protest. In the ensuing months, the White House, federal courts, and Washington preservationists have been locked in a legal standoff over where the authority to rename the center lies. Legal experts noted the name change may violate a stipulation established after Congress renamed the center following John F. Kennedy\u2019s assassination in 1963.<\/p>\n \n\tUS District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled on May 29 that the board had acted unlawfully in renaming the institution, finding that only Congress held that power. He also found the board had acted unlawfully in approving a two-year closure for renovations.<\/p>\n \n\tUntil now, the Trump administration had pursued conventional legal channels to fight the ruling: first a motion in June, which was denied. The President\u2019s name was removed from the facade that month, and scrubbed from the center\u2019s letterhead, website, and other official branding. In July, a federal appeals court denied a bid to restore Trump\u2019s name, finding that the administration had failed to prove the arts complex would be \u201cirreparably injured\u201d by the institution reverting to its original name.<\/p>\n \n\tThe board\u2019s Thursday resolution reportedly directed officials to pursue \u201call legal means\u201d to defend what it called President Trump\u2018s rescue of the center \u201cfrom the brink of disaster.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt is hereby resolved, that the center desires to recognize and honor President Trump\u2019s existential and unprecedented contributions to the survival of the center by all legal means,\u201d the measure said, according to the Times<\/em>. The meeting was held virtually and not open to the public.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Kennedy Center, whose chairman has been Trump since February 2025, voted this past March to close the institution for two years for renovations. Judge Cooper blocked the closure, calling it \u201cderelict\u201d for the board to vote without considering the impact on the capital\u2019s leading performing arts institution.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe board will be expected to prepare itself with sufficient information to make a considered, independent decision,\u201d the judge wrote in May, \u201ctaking account of its obligation to both maintain and operate a premiere arts venue and its solemn duty to memorialize a fallen president.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn response, the president took to social media to berate Judge Cooper as an \u201canti-Trump hater\u201d and predict that the center would \u201csoon be closed, probably never to open again.\u201d Throughout the case, the institution has argued that removing then restoring the president\u2019s name would waste \u201ctime and money\u201d and risk losing donor gifts given only \u201cwith the name \u2018Trump\u2019 on the building.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tJudge Cooper is expected to soon review\u2014again\u2014the legality of the latest closure and renaming decisions.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Kennedy Center has grown increasingly marooned from its many patrons and performing arts peers in recent months, and today has a starkly sparse programming schedule. In January, celebrated composer Philip Glass announced his withdrawal of a symphony honoring Abraham Lincoln that was scheduled for its first-ever performance by the National Symphony Orchestra in June. Meanwhile, the Washington National Opera, which had performed there since 1971, moved out in January, citing low attendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n ARTnews<\/em> has contacted the Kennedy Center for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/kennedy-center-board-vote-closure-trump-name-facade-1234794884\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2278616953.jpg?w=1024″] The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted Thursday to close the center for renovations for a second time, while keeping a smaller, separate theater open. This week\u2019s vote marked a dramatic escalation in the legal battle over the historic center: the Trump-allied board also moved to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2092375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2092375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2092375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2092375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2092375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}