The Kennedy Center’s board voted Thursday to inscribe President Donald Trump’s name into the storied building’s white marble facade and proceed with a lengthy shutdown of the venue to accommodate an extensive $250 million renovation project, according to ex officio member Rep. Joyce Beatty.
The decision comes just months after a judge ruled that separate signage bearing the president’s name had to be taken off the building’s marquee. The new inscription will test the order, though due to ongoing litigation the judge has the power to delay the projects.
The board, which Trump fired en masse last year and restocked with allies, voted to close the center’s main building, while The Reach, a newer expansion to the facility, will remain open for limited events. It will also serve as a memorial to former President John F. Kennedy.
The president announced the renovations in February and said the center would need to close for two years.
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An outside consulting firm concluded that keeping the main building open during the construction project would be significantly more expensive. The board reviewed a 163-page plan for the $250 million renovation project ahead of the meeting, according to The New York Times.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The new inscription, which is set to read “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” will be placed under the marquee bearing President John F. Kennedy’s name, according to Beatty. The board also approved a motion to rename the physical site on which the center stands to “The President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”
Following Thursday’s meeting, Beatty lashed out at the Kennedy Center board members who green-lit the changes.
“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,” Beatty wrote in a statement. “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.”
Trump’s push to renovate the Kennedy Center — including affixing his name to the front marble exterior — has launched several monthslong court battles and prompted congressional scrutiny over funding for the renovations.
Trump’s handpicked board had initially sought to rebrand the center and place his name on top of Kennedy’s, dubbing the institution the “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
But U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper issued an opinion in May that blocked the proposed renovation project and halted the center’s renaming in response to a lawsuit filed by Beatty.
Cooper ruled that the board had been “derelict” by neglecting the potential impact the renovation could have on the programming at the center.
Trump railed against Cooper’s decision at the time, calling him a “Highly Conflicted, Crooked Federal Judge” and saying the Kennedy Center is “broken, unsafe, and busted,” in a post on Truth Social in May.
The Trump-backed renovations at the Kennedy Center come amid a wave of beautification projects at government buildings across D.C. — including the addition of a large ballroom at White House and the refurbishment of historic landmarks like the Reflecting Pool.
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