The Kennedy Center board voted Tuesday to close the performing arts center’s building in Washington, citing safety and financial concerns. Donald Trump said the venue would close “immediately” and linked any future renovation to the outcome of the legal fight over whether his name can be added to the building.
The closure vote came after a federal judge blocked the board from adding Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center, saying only Congress could authorize a memorial change. The board has said it stands by an August resolution recognizing Trump, while the related naming proposal was not taken up at Tuesday’s meeting.
Why the building is closing
The board’s proposal said the main building was unsafe for continued occupancy. Lawyers for Democratic congresswoman Joyce Beatty, an ex officio board member who challenged the renaming, disputed that description in court, arguing that Delta Consulting Group, the safety consultants cited by the board, had expressly disclaimed reaching such an opinion.
Government lawyers told the US District Court for the District of Columbia that Joe LaFauci, the center’s vice-president of board relations, said the meeting had been narrowed to the closure because of structural emergencies. Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick also posted security video that he said showed debris falling in the grand foyer; Trump shared the post. Related coverage: Washington’s Kennedy Center faces possible closure over finances.
The court fight over Trump’s name
US district judge Christopher Cooper previously ordered Trump’s name removed from the building and ruled in May that only Congress had authority to rename the Kennedy Center. The lettering was removed in June. Before Tuesday’s meeting, Cooper blocked the board from adding the name again, writing that doing so would violate his earlier ruling and a statute enacted by Congress.
The board had been expected to consider a proposal offering 10 ways to place Trump’s name and the “Trump Kennedy Center Fund” beneath the center’s name on the exterior marble. The options linked different forms of recognition to renovation, an endowment or oversight. That proposal was shelved, although the board said it still supported the recognition resolution passed on August 13, 2026. Read the context: Allegations of rushed and mismanaged Kennedy Center renovations for Trump’s FIFA peace prize ceremony.
Financial dispute adds pressure
Trump said renovation and reconstruction could not begin until the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit rules on the board’s approved name, with a possible appeal to the US Supreme Court. He said the work would not proceed if that ruling were negative and the decision were not overturned.
The center’s current leadership has blamed the crisis on alleged mismanagement by the team led by former president Deborah Rutter, including claims of $26m in “phantom revenue” in a falsified budget. Rutter and former board chair David Rubenstein denied those claims and said the center’s finances had been independently audited. Beatty and her lawyers said the renaming effort and shutdown reflected mismanagement and vowed to return to court.
What happens next
The legal dispute is expected to continue in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, with the possibility of Supreme Court review, while the board’s closure decision remains tied to its stated safety and structural concerns.
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