Kennedy Center board votes to close immediately for renovations - USA Today

WASHINGTON – The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted to immediately close the bulk of the iconic institution as it prepares for renovations pushed by President Donald Trump and his administration.

The Sept. 15 action from the board ‒ composed primarily of members handpicked by Trump ‒ came during a closed-door meeting on Zoom, according to a source with direct knowledge of the vote.

Yet whether the center can remain shuttered will likely be decided by a federal judge. The action tests U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper's order from May blocking a previous board vote in March to close the Kennedy Center. Justice Department attorneys are asking the judge to vacate a preliminary junction he granted that kept the center open.

Trump, meanwhile, said he won't move ahead on the renovations ‒ which he would fund with his money ‒ unless Cooper's decision earlier in the day keeping Trump's name off the center is overturned on appeal.

"The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "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."

The board voted Tuesday to close the Kennedy's Center main building while keeping open a newer, significantly smaller theater wing called the REACH. Trump has said the renovations and repairs will take two years.

Trump-aligned Kennedy Center officials argue that the center has fallen into severe disrepair, posing safety hazards to concertgoers. Even before the formal action to close, the center had already started to wind down holding major shows in its large performance halls.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, the plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the closure, said the Kennedy Center has historically conducted "phased renovations" to keep the center open during construction.

"This is how major performing arts centers in the country operate," Beatty said. "But donors, patrons, and artists all fled after the unlawful attempt to rename this sacred memorial after Donald Trump."

Beatty added: "Donald Trump only cares about the Kennedy Center for his vanity. That is wrong and it is a breach of his fiduciary duty as a trustee."

When Cooper in May blocked the board's March vote to close the center, the judge said the board lacked enough information to make the decision. Since that decision, the Kennedy Center hired an outside vendor that identified leaks and other problems to justify the temporary closure.

At a court hearing Tuesday, Cooper told the federal government's attorneys that nothing from his May order prevents them from conducting routine maintenance work to address the problems cited in the consultant's report, as long as the center remains operating.

In a 22-page written order Tuesday, Cooper blocked the Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board's plan to inscribe Trump's name below the main sign on the building to honor the president's financial support for the center. The judge ruled that the move violated his May order to remove the president's name from the center after it was renamed the "Trump-Kennedy Center" after Trump's takeover of the institution.

"Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing," wrote Cooper, an appointee of President Barack Obama. "The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted."

A draft resolution prepared for the board to consider proposed 10 different wordings and phrases to recognize Trump's financial support for the center with an inscription below the center's main exterior sign. The resolution, drafted by Kennedy Center officials, warned that Trump would not lead the "fiscal rescue" of the center from potential bankruptcy unless the honorary inscription for him was added.

At the court hearing, Cooper pressed Justice Department attorneys on whether a trust, like the Kennedy Center, can even file for bankruptcy. The attorneys said they did not have an answer.

"Before throwing around these concepts, I would suggest knowing the answer to these questions," Cooper said.

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.