The Trump-controlled Kennedy Center board voted once again to close the arts institution for renovations, after a judge rejected a previous move to shutter the complex because it did not fully consider the scope of options and impacts.
At a meeting on Thursday, the board approved a plan in which the main complex would be shuttered but a newer extension, called The Reach, would still offer limited programming and as a memorial to John F. Kennedy, according to a source familiar with the deliberations.
The board will still have to submit its action to U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who previously ruled that the closure plan needed to consider other factors, including programming. Cooper wrote that the board was “derelict” and “based its decision on an insufficient, one-sided presentation of information and neglected to consider the full range of its statutory obligations and potential adverse consequences of closure on programming and memorial functions.” His ruling left open the possibility of closure, but only if the board conducted a more comprehensive analysis.
In the same ruling, the judge ruled that the board overstepped its authority by adding Trump’s name to the center, ordering that it be taken down from its facade, website and other materials. A crew removed the lettering from the front of the complex in an overnight operation in June, but left up a tarp that now conceals much of the original name, The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
The center is appealing the judge’s ruling.
The New York Times first reported on the board vote.
Congress appropriated $257 million in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for Kennedy Center repairs and renovations. In February, Trump announced the plan to close the complex during the overhaul, and the board, in which he leads as chairman, endorsed the proposal the next month. But Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) sued the center over the name change and the closure, arguing that it failed to fully account for the impact on programming, among other things. The plan also was approved amid declining attendance and a number of artists pulling out of shows after the name change.
The judge has ordered a status update on the center’s plans for construction and future operations by next week, as well as on the purpose for the tarp at the front of the complex.
The center’s final large events ended in early July, the original target date for closure, but there have been smaller performances at The Reach, which opened in 2019 as a major expansion on the complex’s south side.
More to come.
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