Fencing was erected around the perimeter of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington on Wednesday, one day after President Donald Trump and his handpicked board announced its indefinite closure.
The center’s doors were locked, and security said it was closed to the public. Workers said they were instructed to put up the barriers.
The drama surrounding the famed performing arts center, established in honor of former President John F. Kennedy, began when Trump took over as its chairman last year and installed his allies on its board. Artists canceled appearances and resigned in protest. The Washington National Opera and the National Symphony Orchestra moved to other venues earlier this year. The center saw ticket sales drop under the new leadership, which said the business was “on the brink of bankruptcy.”
In December, the Trump-appointed board changed the center’s name to “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” and in February, Trump announced the center would close for two years for repairs, sparking intense backlash, particularly from lawmakers who argued that only Congress could implement such changes.
In a blow to Trump’s plans, a federal judge ruled in May that the addition of his name without Congress was illegal, ordering its removal from the building’s facade and the center’s website. The board attempted to keep Trump’s name on the building in a smaller capacity by adding the phrase “renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump” on the main building and renaming the campus “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”
The same federal judge blocked that change as well Tuesday. Trump said the board will appeal the decision and threatened to close the center and cancel renovations in the meantime until his name is added back.
“The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name,” Trump wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.”
Within hours, the Trump-appointed board voted to close the center indefinitely, citing safety and financial concerns.
The White House said Wednesday that “renovation cannot begin until the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name,” and it announced that $17 million raised by Trump has been placed in the center’s account “to keep it afloat.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, an ex-officio board member and trustee who brought the legal challenge against the name change, told MS NOW on Tuesday that Trump threw “a tantrum” in a phone call with the board after he learned that she successfully blocked his plans.
“It was the most unprofessional thing that I’ve ever witnessed or been a part of,” Beatty said, adding that Trump called her “dumb.”
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