The president immediately vowed to cancel a planned renovation of the facility unless the decision about adding his name is reversed by a higher court. Trump wrote: "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.
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." Kennedy Center board says venue could close soon due to financial woes The plaintiff in the federal suit, Rep. Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio, filed Trump's statement with the federal judge.
Administrators of the Kennedy Center told the board in recent days that the physical plant of the complex's main building is unsafe, and that the center's finances are "within weeks" of bankruptcy. Kennedy Center officials did not reply to NPR's requests for comment. Even before Tuesday's vote, the Kennedy Center was down to a skeletal version of itself.
Ticket sales had plummeted, and many prominent artists had canceled planned appearances, saying that the center had become politicized under Trump. There were very few events on the calendar. Most of the administrative staff had already either been fired or had left.
The board has been signposting its desire to close the center's main venues for months. A small, fairly recently opened extension called the REACH will remain open, in part to fulfill the Congressional mandate of making the living memorial to President John F. Kennedy open and accessible to the public.
Additionally, the board wrote in documents filed with the federal court that it intends to make allowances for two of the center's signature programs, as well as for the National Symphony Orchestra, whose budget is tethered to the Kennedy Center. A proposed resolution by the board, included in those documents, pledges "continued programming in the REACH and offsite," as well as continued support for "the National Symphony Orchestra, and continuing the Center's longstanding tradition of presenting the Kennedy Center Honors and Mark Twain Prize." That, the resolution adds, will enable enough "engagement" with artists, donors and patrons so that "a two-year closure of the main building will not unduly affect its ability to ramp up programming in a revitalized main building in 2028." A lengthy memorandum circulated to the board before the vote, which NPR obtained on Monday, deals strictly with the physical plant. It does not detail any plans of how programming will "ramp up" in the years to come.
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