Rep. Joyce Beatty’s lawyers are arguing that the Kennedy Center’s push to close its main building for two years was driven by financial troubles — not the need to complete renovations — as they urge a federal judge to keep the two-year renovation closure blocked.
In a court filing Friday, Beatty’s attorneys pointed to internal communications in which Kennedy Center officials discussed the institution’s deteriorating finances and the potential embarrassment of being blamed for its financial decline.
The messages, the lawyers argue, suggest that the center’s leadership sought to close the institution to conceal its own mismanagement while advancing President Donald Trump’s preferred plan for a two-year shutdown.
“In short, the closure was motivated, not by the need to conduct renovations, but by the desire of various Defendants, including the Board’s Vice Chair, to hide the Kennedy Center’s current struggles and their embarrassment,” Beatty’s attorneys wrote.
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The filing is Beatty’s latest effort to prevent the Kennedy Center from closing its main building for renovations. The Ohio Democrat, an ex officio member of the center’s board, is asking U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to reject the administration’s request to dissolve an existing preliminary injunction blocking the shutdown.
The filing argues that the board’s renewed votes to close the center have repeated the same procedural failures that Cooper found unlawful in May.
At the heart of the financial argument is a Sept. 10 text message from the center’s chief financial officer to Kennedy Center President Charles Matthew Floca, memorializing a conversation between board Vice Chair Jennifer Fischer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
In the message, Fischer told Lutnick that the center needed to shut down because “we are broke” and “we are burning money.”
Fischer also expressed concern that opponents would argue that former Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell had raised substantial funds only for the current leadership to squander them, according to the filing.
Beatty’s lawyers argue that the exchange shows the shutdown was intended to mask the center’s financial difficulties rather than address a pressing need for renovations.
The center’s leadership has maintained that the building needs to close to complete extensive construction work. But Beatty’s attorneys say the financial concerns were a significant factor in the decision and that officials have sought to obscure the relationship between the institution’s financial decline and the shutdown.
The filing also points to declining ticket sales and fundraising following Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center and the board’s decision to rename the institution after him.
At a June 1 meeting of the center’s Audit and Finance Committee, officials were told that ticket sales had fallen to pandemic-era levels, with roughly $4 million in sales since January 2026. Fundraising also declined sharply following the renaming, with pledges dropping by more than 100% because of adjustments and write-offs, according to the filing.
Beatty’s attorneys argue that the financial problems were caused in large part by the leadership changes and the renaming, which prompted artists to cancel performances and donors to withdraw support.
The filing further alleges that Floca provided trustees with an incomplete account of the center’s finances before the board voted to close the building in September.
In a two-page memo to trustees, Floca described the center’s operating deficit as moving in an unfavorable direction and attributed some of the financial difficulties to the institution’s prior management. Beatty’s lawyers argue that the memo omitted more recent financial information and failed to acknowledge the effects of Trump’s takeover.
The attorneys also say the board was not given sufficient information to determine whether the center truly faced an imminent financial crisis.
Before the September board meeting, Floca circulated a draft resolution stating that the Kennedy Center faced “certain fiscal collapse within weeks” and would soon be unable to meet payroll or routine maintenance obligations.
But Beatty’s lawyers say internal documents suggested the center had millions of dollars available to cover months of operations, although some of those funds were held by a foundation and could potentially be subject to a clawback. The center also had $180.6 million in endowment and investment assets as of fiscal 2024, according to the filing.
The attorneys acknowledged that the center’s current financial position remains unclear, arguing that officials have withheld information necessary to determine the institution’s actual cash position.
The financial dispute comes as the administration continues to argue that a two-year closure is necessary to complete its renovation work.
Beatty’s lawyers, however, say the center’s own construction consultant, Jones Lang LaSalle, determined that a phased renovation was technically feasible and could be completed at a substantially lower additional cost than the center’s management claimed.
The filing says JLL estimated that a phased approach would cost an additional $41 million, compared with Delta Consulting Group’s estimate of $303 million in additional costs. The attorneys argue that the center’s leadership withheld JLL’s updated analysis from trustees before the board voted to close the building.
The filing also points to a previous ruling from Cooper, who in May found that the board had failed to adequately consider the consequences of closing the center and had relied on insufficient information. The judge’s preliminary injunction blocked the shutdown but allowed necessary renovations to proceed.
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