The Kennedy Center board voted to close the main building due to safety and funding issues.
The move was expected following the release of draft proposals. The Board wrote that the Center likely faces closure unless it recognizes President Trump’s role in keeping it afloat. The Center is “seeking to appropriately recognize and acknowledge President Trump for his well-timed proffer of fiscal rescue,” the documents state. “The Board understands that without such 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.”
“The Board seeks to provide multiple options so that President Trump can be legally and appropriately recognized and acknowledged on the facade of the Kennedy Center so that he agrees to carry the burden of managing the renovation and provides the Center with a much-required financial rescue.”
According to the draft resolution, “The Kennedy Center is in such a precarious fiscal position that it will not be able to support its payroll obligations, nor routine maintenance contracts within a matter of weeks.”
“While actively considering alternative means of fiscal survival, President Trump has offered to step in and raise the necessary funds to keep the Center from bankruptcy during its much-needed renovation,” it read.
On the same day as the closure announcement, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper blocked the Board’s effort to add President Trump’s name to the center. “Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” the judge wrote. “The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.”
