The Kennedy Center board voted again this week to shut the main building for what it describes as a multiyear, $250 million renovation and to restore President Donald J. Trump’s name on the center’s entry — moves that reopen legal fights and deepen turmoil at the nation’s flagship arts complex.
According to a person briefed on the sealed Thursday Zoom meeting, the board approved a plan to close the primary campus while keeping The REACH, the 2019 addition, open for limited programming and as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy. Under the approved timetable the main building would stay closed for roughly two years and is expected to reopen in summer 2028.
The renovation proposal includes structural repairs, new marble floors, nearly $12 million in acoustical upgrades and the temporary relocation of the eight-foot bronze bust of John F. Kennedy from the main foyer. The construction management firm named in planning documents is JLL; the board has not publicly detailed how JLL was chosen or whether the firm has experience with venues that host unamplified orchestral, chamber and operatic performances.
The board’s action follows an earlier March vote to close the center that a federal judge temporarily blocked in May, finding board members lacked sufficient information to authorize a full shutdown. Thursday’s decisions are subject to further judicial review: the judge who issued the earlier order will need to consider whether the new vote complies with his findings.
The same meeting also voted to return President Trump’s name to the building entrance, approving language that would style the complex as “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” That move directly tests an appeals-court ruling earlier this summer that denied the president’s request to stop the removal of his name, ruling he had not shown the Kennedy Center would suffer irreparable harm without it.
Trump has said publicly that a yearlong review with contractors and musical experts informed his renovation plans. Judge Christopher Cooper, in his May opinion, concluded there was little evidence any such review had occurred.
The votes took place privately over Zoom. Several Democratic members who serve as ex-officio trustees told reporters in the days before the meeting that they still had not been provided with assessments explaining the long-term institutional impact of a full closure. The Kennedy Center is chaired by President Trump, and a majority of current trustees are his appointees.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who sued last December to reverse the name change and block the renovation, called Thursday’s actions “more of the same” and said the vote appeared intended to circumvent the court’s ruling. Beatty vowed to continue litigation to preserve the center as a national monument.
A separate suit filed in March by eight architecture and cultural organizations seeks to block the renovation as well. The litigation landscape has already produced a temporary injunction and recent rulings that have moved the conflict into multiple courtrooms.
The Kennedy Center’s internal crisis has had real-world consequences for programming and finances. Once a venue offering free public performances year-round alongside ticketed shows and education programs, the main campus now sits largely idle. Washington National Opera withdrew in January, many marquee artists canceled engagements after the December 2025 name change, ticket sales collapsed, and scores of staff and administrators have left.
Reports have also surfaced that the National Symphony Orchestra, whose budget is intertwined with the center, is confronting severe financial strain. That instability was spotlighted in recent coverage by national outlets and by center staff who spoke on background.
The center has faced other legal and financial setbacks: a D.C. Superior Court judge ordered the Kennedy Center to pay jazz musician Chuck Redd more than $252,000 in legal fees after the center sued him for canceling his longtime December performance following the name change; the center said it plans to appeal that decision.
A large tarp has covered the center’s main entrance since June, when the complex complied with a court order to remove Trump’s name. The tarp remained in place as of the latest board vote.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Board statements, contract details and the substantive materials cited by trustees in making the closure decision have not been released publicly, and the pending court review is likely to determine whether the board’s second vote is legally adequate.
For now, the elevated legal and political stakes have left the institution in limbo: significant renovation plans and a return of the president’s name pressed forward by a board majority, even as lawsuits, public criticism and the aftereffects of the previous name change continue to erode operations, audiences and institutional stability.