The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted on Thursday to inscribe President Trump\u2019s name on the building beneath the main signage, according to two people with direct knowledge of the proceedings, aggressively testing a federal judge\u2019s order.<\/p>\n
According to the resolution approved by the Trump-allied board, the inscription underneath the institution\u2019s name would read: \u201cRestored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.\u201d The board\u2019s decision, which directs officials to act by \u201call legal means,\u201d came shortly after it voted to move forward with Mr. Trump\u2019s plan to shutter the building for renovations.<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s name was added to the building<\/a> last year, but the judge ordered the letters taken down, finding that only Congress had the authority to change the institution\u2019s name. The center removed Mr. Trump\u2019s name in June<\/a> but is appealing the ruling.<\/p>\n The move appeared to attempt to find a creative workaround to a provision in the federal law governing the Kennedy Center that says \u201cno additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas.\u201d<\/p>\n In Thursday\u2019s resolution, the board directed officials to honor Mr. Trump for bringing the center back \u201cfrom the brink of disaster,\u201d presenting a series of possibilities that included naming the center\u2019s grounds the \u201cPresident Donald J. Trump Plaza.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is hereby resolved,\u201d the measure said, \u201cthat the center desires to recognize and honor President Trump\u2019s existential and unprecedented contributions to the survival of the center by all legal means.\u201d<\/p>\n Both decisions will be subject to the scrutiny of the judge who, in response to a lawsuit from a Democratic lawmaker, found that the board had been \u201cderelict\u201d in considering the closure plan before approving it originally. Mr. Trump announced in February that the center would close for two years<\/a>, with the objective of transforming what he called a \u201ctired, broken and dilapidated\u201d institution.<\/p>\n The board voted on Thursday to close the Kennedy Center\u2019s main building while keeping a newer addition to the campus, known as the Reach<\/a>, open for limited programming and to operate as an active memorial to John F. Kennedy.<\/p>\n Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio and an ex officio member of the center\u2019s board who sued the center, said in a statement that the resolutions were part of a \u201ctransparent effort to circumvent the court\u2019s ruling.\u201d<\/p>\n Workers built scaffolding before removing President Trump\u2019s name from the Kennedy Center in June.Credit…Pete Kiehart for The New York Times<\/p>\n Ahead of the meeting, the board was presented with a 163-page plan for a $250 million \u201crenewal\u201d project that includes structural repair work, new marble floors, $11.8 million in \u201cacoustical improvements\u201d and a plan to temporarily move the famous 3,000-pound bronze bust of Kennedy to another building on campus. The judge had said in his order that the board had a legal obligation to maintain the facility as a memorial to Kennedy.<\/p>\n The approved resolution noted that the decision to close was made based on an \u201cindependent and objective analysis\u201d of possible options by an outside consulting firm, which determined that keeping the main building open during renovations would be significantly more costly. It notes that the board was \u201cfully committed\u201d to continue arts and educational programming during the closure and maintain the \u201chistoric and architecturally significant nature\u201d of the building.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump, the board\u2019s chairman, called into the meeting, which was held remotely, and spoke briefly to criticize those opposed to his closure plan, according to the people with direct knowledge of the proceedings.<\/p>\n Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was tapped by the president to help oversee the Kennedy Center, strongly endorsed the plan, the people said, at one point crediting the president, a developer by trade, with an ability to keep construction projects on schedule and on budget.<\/p>\n After Mr. Trump announced the closure plan this year, the board quickly agreed. But Judge Christopher R. Cooper of Federal District Court in Washington temporarily blocked the closure<\/a>, ruling that the original vote had been \u201cill-informed and seemingly preordained.\u201d In his order in May, the judge wrote that the center\u2019s trustees had a legal obligation to seriously consider the potential consequences of shuttering Washington\u2019s pre-eminent performing arts venue.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump lashed out at the judge following his decision<\/a> and said it would be \u201cdangerous\u201d to keep the center open. Center officials later assured the judge that they were following his order and further scrutinizing the decision, culminating in the meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n Judge Cooper will soon review the board\u2019s resolution to consider whether the trustees, in his view, performed enough due diligence ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n \u201cThe board will be expected to prepare itself with sufficient information to make a considered, independent decision,\u201d the judge wrote in the May order, \u201ctaking account of its obligation to both maintain and operate a premiere arts venue and its solemn duty to memorialize a fallen president.\u201d<\/p>\n For weeks, the future of the Kennedy Center has been in limbo, with a largely bare performance calendar.<\/p>\n Broadway touring shows, typically a major source of ticket revenue, have gone elsewhere. The National Symphony Orchestra, the center\u2019s resident ensemble, has yet to announce a season<\/a> that typically opens in late September. And employees at the center, which already executed rounds of layoffs, remain unsure about their futures.<\/p>\n The resolution approved by the board noted that during the closure, the orchestra would perform at outside venues, and the Kennedy Center Honors, the institution\u2019s marquee event, would also be held off-site.<\/p>\n Ahead of the meeting, trustees were provided with a comparison of two scenarios for renovations by an outside consultant. Both the consultant and the construction management firm, JLL, raised safety and cost concerns that they say would arise from keeping the building open during a phased renovation.<\/p>\n The proposal by JLL said the project would address chronic leaks, replace outdated equipment and redesign parts of the interior. Changes would include new furniture, a new coffee shop, electronic ticketing kiosks and $7 million in public restroom renovations. The target for reopening would be summer of 2028.<\/p>\n It was unclear immediately after the meeting, which was not public, whether the center intends to pursue the exact construction plan laid out in the report.<\/p>\n Over the past year and a half, the Kennedy Center has struggled with an exodus of audience members, employees and artists unwilling to be involved with what they now view as a political arm of the White House. The backlash was particularly strong late last year, when the board voted to change the institution\u2019s name to the Trump-Kennedy Center. New letters were added to the building\u2019s marble facade<\/a> the next day.<\/p>\n Judge Cooper ruled that changing the center\u2019s name required approval from Congress, which dedicated the institution to Kennedy in 1964, shortly after he was assassinated. Before the center removed \u201cTrump\u201d from the building, it also installed a towering matrix of scaffolding, covered in tarps, that obscures much of the current signage.<\/p>\n Many of the board members are staunch Trump allies, such as Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff; Dan Scavino, a Trump adviser; and Allison Lutnick, a former lawyer who is married to the commerce secretary.<\/p>\n