The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' board will focus exclusively on the "necessary closure" of the center during its meeting, and not on additional ways to honor President Donald Trump, according to a federal court filing. The Trump administration stated in the filing that a draft resolution proposing ten new ways to honor Trump would not be considered, and that the board "stands by" its earlier vote to recognize the president.
An email from Kennedy Center official Joe LaFauci indicated the agenda update was due to "recently exacerbated structural emergencies" at the center. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later posted security video showing a partial ceiling collapse that occurred earlier this month during a rainstorm, where debris fell onto an empty red carpet. "If a performance had been underway, patrons could have been killed," Lutnick said in a social media post. "People cannot be allowed to go into this building any longer."
The board had previously voted in December to add Trump's name to the building, a move a federal judge ordered removed in May. Last month, the board voted 23-3 on a resolution to close the facility for two years as part of a $285 million renovation plan. This resolution also included adding Trump's name to the building multiple times. The board had argued that Trump would help raise an additional $100 million for the center, despite Congress already appropriating $257 million for the project. The board stated that re-adding Trump's name was intended to recognize him as the man who "renovated and restored" the center, and that a fundraising goal being met would establish the "Trump Kennedy Center Fund."
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper is currently reviewing whether adding Trump's name would violate a statute prohibiting additional memorials at the only D.C. memorial to former President John F. Kennedy. Cooper was scheduled to hold a scheduling conference on the center's future plans. Trustees were expected to vote on a measure declaring the center's main building "unsafe for continued occupancy" and ordering its immediate closure to patrons.
Cooper's decision will also determine if the board can proceed with its latest closure plans, which have gained urgency due to the ceiling collapse and claims that the center is running out of operational funds. Programming at the Kennedy Center effectively ceased in early July, with ticket sales reportedly declining for months following the board's December vote to rename the facility, a decision Cooper ruled unlawful in May.
An attorney for Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who filed a lawsuit challenging the planned closure and renaming, praised the decision not to pursue further resolutions honoring the president, but called the plan to immediately close the center "foolishness" that Beatty's legal team would fight.
Center officials had previously emphasized the need to honor Trump to encourage his oversight of the renovation and fundraising efforts, stating that without such recognition, it was unlikely he would provide the necessary leadership for the building's renovation and the center's fiscal rescue.