Chicago – August 13, 2026
The Kennedy Center’s board of trustees voted on Thursday to reinscribe President Donald Trump’s name on the performing arts venue and to close its main building for two years of renovations, directly challenging a federal judge’s earlier order blocking both actions.
New inscription and closure plan
During a virtual meeting, the Trump-aligned board approved changing the building’s signage to read: “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” with the plaza in front to be named “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.” The board also voted 20–3 to shutter the main campus for about two years while keeping The REACH, a 2019 addition, open for limited programming, with a planned reopening in summer 2028.
Legal challenge and criticism
The move sets up a fresh legal test of U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled in May that only Congress can rename the Kennedy Center and ordered Trump’s name removed after it was added late last year. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio trustee who sued over the changes, called the new vote a “transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling” and vowed to continue fighting what she described as an unlawful transformation of a national monument.
