- The Trump-appointed Kennedy Center board voted to close the performing arts center on Tuesday.
- Trump renamed the center to the Trump Kennedy Center, then a federal judge ordered his name removed.
- Originally called the National Cultural Center, the name changed after Kennedy’s 1963 assassination.
Six Democratic lawmakers said in a statement that Trump was “attempting to affix his name to yet another public institution without legal authority.”
In February, Trump announced that the Kennedy Center would close for two years for renovations, starting in July.
Trump announced in a Truth Social post that the center will be closed for renovations for two years, starting July 4.
Trump also called the Center “tired, broken, and dilapidated,” and said that the administration consulted with contractors, music experts, art institutions, and other advisors and consultants to review the building.
In his post, Trump said the period of closure would involve a complete rebuilding of the Center, to make it “the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World.”
Representatives for the White House did not respond to queries from Business Insider asking how much the project would cost.
In May, a federal judge ruled that the Kennedy Center’s name change and planned closure were both unlawful.
As part of a lawsuit brought by Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, who serves as an ex officio Kennedy Center member, Judge Christopher R. Cooper wrote in his ruling that “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” and ordered that Trump’s name be removed from the building and other materials.
Cooper also wrote in his ruling that Kennedy Center board members did not have “sufficient information” to “make a well-considered decision” before they voted to close the Center for two years and ordered it to remain open.
The Trump administration floated demolishing the Kennedy Center in August if its planned renovation, which includes adding Trump’s name to the building, cannot proceed.
In a court filing, the Justice Department wrote that if the $257 million renovation is not completed, “the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down.”
A proposal drafted by the Kennedy Center board, also submitted as part of a court filing, included alternative ways to incorporate Trump’s name into the institution, such as “With Gratitude for Support from President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.” The board maintained 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.”
In early September, “Blue,” a statue by artist Joel Shapiro, was removed from the Kennedy Center.
“Blue” was installed at The Kennedy Center in 2019, described at the time as a permanent installation.
The Kennedy Center did not share why the statue was removed. Josef Palermo, the Kennedy Center’s former curator of visual arts and special programming, wrote in The Atlantic in April that “Blue” had been “targeted early on” for removal by the Trump administration to make way for new works of art as part of the planned renovation.
In September 2026, the Kennedy Center’s Trump-appointed board voted to close for renovations.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the Kennedy Center had voted “almost unanimously” to close “immediately” and remain shuttered until the DC Circuit federal appeals court rules on his proposed name change.
“If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the US Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place,” he wrote.
When reached for comment, the White House referred Business Insider to the president’s Truth Social post.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in December 2025. It was most recently updated in September 2026.
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