Kennedy Center board votes to close for renovations after US judge blocks Trump’s name from facade

WASHINGTON - The board of the Kennedy Center voted on Sept 15 to shut down the iconic performing arts venue for up to two years for repairs, a US$257 million (S$326 million) renovation project that President Donald Trump later threatened to block unless federal courts allow his name to be added to the building.

The decision by the board, which is chaired by Trump and composed of his allies, came less than two hours after a federal judge blocked the centre from adding Trump’s name to its facade for the second time in five months.

In a social media post, Trump said the renovation work would not start until an appeals court weighs in on the judge’s order.

“If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The developments on Sept 15 were the latest twists in the saga of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts since Trump regained the White House, named himself chairman of the centre’s board and announced plans to reshape its programming.

The centre, which is also a memorial to the assassinated Kennedy, opened in 1971 with the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s requiem mass for Kennedy.

It has over the decades been home to the Washington National Opera and the National Symphony Orchestra and hosted such performers as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Wynton Marsalis. It also hosts the annual Kennedy Center Honors, recognising the lifetime of achievement of leading artists.

In response to Trump’s takeover, artists have cancelled performances in protest, and the opera and the symphony were forced to find other venues, while revenue cratered. The board has warned the center’s finances are so shaky that it may soon not be able to honour payroll obligations or maintenance contracts.

Trump’s campaign to remake the centre is part of his broader effort to leave his cultural and aesthetic mark on the US capital, including a large new ballroom to replace the White House East Wing he ordered demolished, a troubled renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and a planned “triumphal arch” near the nation’s main cemetery honouring its war dead.

The centre’s board has said the venue is in dire need of immediate repairs.

Trump spoke to the board during Sept 15’s meeting, according to a statement from US Representative Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who sits on the board due to her position in Congress.

Beatty has sued to prevent the centre from adding Trump’s name, arguing that only Congress has that authority.

“The unlawful renaming drove audiences and artists away. Now the Board has voted to shut down yet again to hide the terrible mismanagement under its current leadership. We’ll see the Defendants in court,” said Representative Beatty’s counsel, Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Action and Nathaniel Zelinsky of Washington Litigation Group in a statement.

Judge blocks Trump name from building

As part of that litigation, US District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington issued an order earlier on Sept 15 temporarily halting the center’s latest proposal to put Trump’s name on the building. The centre was named for Kennedy as a memorial under a law signed by former president Lyndon Johnson after his assassination.

In addition, Cooper said the board cannot proceed with plans to rename the campus where it sits the “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”

“Simply put, defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’ blessing,” Cooper wrote.

Like Trump, the board has argued that adding his name in honour of his efforts is necessary to ensure his continued commitment to its survival.

“The Board understands that without such appropriate recognition it is unlikely that President Trump will provide the fundamental oversight of the renovation of the main building and lead the fiscal rescue of the Center,” the board wrote in a draft resolution ahead of the meeting.

Trump said on social media that the Justice Department, which represents the centre, will appeal the order.

Cooper had previously ordered the centre in May to remove Trump’s name from the building after the centre changed its marble facade in December to read “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

At that time, Cooper also blocked the centre from closing down, finding that the board had not adequately considered the financial consequences.

Workers stripped Trump’s name from the centre in June and left the exterior masked by scaffolding and a white tarpaulin.

In a vote on Aug 13, the board signed off on the addition of an inscription honouring Trump and renaming the centre’s plaza after Trump.

The 10 options for how the president’s inscription could be rendered included: “A Legacy protected through the Generosity of President Donald J. Trump” and “Renovation, Restoration, and support by President Donald J. Trump.” REUTERS