The Kennedy Center’s board warned of imminent insolvency in court papers on Sept. 14, and said it wants a visible acknowledgment of President Donald Trump’s fundraising assistance for the building, despite a judge’s ruling that only Congress can rename it.
The board is now considering two draft resolutions: one to close the main building over safety concerns, the other to inscribe Trump’s name on the facade in exchange for his fundraising assistance. Both are set for a Sept. 15 vote, more than three months after a federal judge barred renaming the center.
The resolutions were filed as exhibits to a notice by attorneys for plaintiff Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) in the federal lawsuit over the center’s name.
Lawyers in the case are scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper for a status conference at 10 a.m. on Sept. 15. The board is scheduled to meet at 12:30 p.m.
Beatty, an ex officio member of the center’s board of trustees, filed the papers Sept. 14 in Beatty v. Trump with the federal district court in Washington, after the board sent the package of documents to trustees over the weekend.
One draft resolution would close the main building, stating that it is “unsafe for continued occupancy.” Beatty’s notice, filed with the court, says that claim “incorrectly asserts that the Delta Consulting Group considers the main building ‘unsafe for continued occupancy,’ when Delta expressly disclaimed providing any such opinion.”
She referred to the weekend package of documents as the “newest maneuver” and “a transparent effort to backfill the Board’s closure vote held on August 13, 2026.”
Norm Eisen, one of Beatty’s attorneys, said in a Sept. 14 post on X that the board’s meeting materials were “an outrageous act of hostage taking.”
“Pay up or the Kennedy Center closes, & the price is Trump’s name on the building,” he said.
A second draft resolution—Exhibit B—lists inscription options “to be placed on the exterior marble beneath the name of the Center,” including language crediting Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund for renovation, endowment, oversight, or support. The board created the fund as an endowment vehicle to raise money for the center.
Workers outside The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington after they updated the signage in honor of U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 19, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
It adds that Trump “has offered to step in and raise the necessary funds to keep the Center from bankruptcy during its much needed renovation,” and that without “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.”
On May 29, Cooper ordered that Trump’s name be struck from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and blocked officials from shuttering the venue for two years for renovations. Crews removed the letters in June.
On Aug. 13, the Trump-appointed board voted to add an inscription under the Kennedy name—“Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump”—and to proceed with a closure for renovations. Beatty has asked Cooper to block the inscription plan.
In her filing, Beatty does not dispute the language concerning payroll and insolvency, but challenges the claim that consultants found the building unsafe, as well as the timing of the weekend document dump.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick speaks during a roundtable discussion with President Donald Trump in Washington on Dec. 10, 2025. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)
“The entire building is in this kind of shape,” he said, adding that the building must be closed for repairs.
Lutnick said the center has historically operated at a loss of between $80 million and $100 million a year.
“Only President Trump can deliver the renovation on time and on budget, and only President Trump can raise the money to keep the Center out of bankruptcy,” he added.
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