{"id":2028,"date":"2026-08-13T22:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T22:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=2028"},"modified":"2026-08-13T22:38:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T22:38:00","slug":"trumps-new-plan-to-get-his-name-back-on-the-kennedy-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=2028","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s New Plan to Get His Name Back on the Kennedy Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Donald Trump just won\u2019t let go of his plans for the Kennedy Center.<\/p>\n

Less than three months after a federal judge ordered the president\u2019s name stripped from the national arts center, Trump\u2019s handpicked trustees have found a new way to try to put him back on the building. During a board meeting today, they voted in favor of a resolution that would return the president\u2019s name to the building\u2019s facade. It would read:<\/p>\n

Read more The Lesson Watergate Was Supposed to Teach<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts
Restored and Renovated by President Donald Trump <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I obtained a copy of the resolution, which contains one more edit to the Kennedy Center\u2019s marble edifice. Once an obscure endowment known as the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reaches $100 million in donations, the resolution would expand the proposed signage\u2019s language to include a third line: Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund<\/span>. The vote, which was not included on the agenda distributed before the meeting, will likely drag out a legal fight over Trump\u2019s transformation of the center and deepen an institutional crisis that has repelled audiences, artists, and donors since his takeover. Participants voted 20\u20133 to adopt the resolution, one person familiar with today\u2019s proceedings told me on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter. The three \u201cno\u201d votes were from ex officio members of the board, who are not appointed by Trump but serve by dint of their federal office. Most members of the board are general trustees appointed by Trump. (The board elected Trump chair in February 2025.)<\/p>\n

There is also still the matter of the center\u2019s renovation plans. A main item of the meeting was to resolve a problem that has dogged Trump\u2019s plans for the Kennedy Center for months: how to make a convincing case that the center needs to close. A federal judge had previously ruled that the board had failed to sufficiently examine the consequences of a full shutdown when it signed off in March on Trump\u2019s surprise plan to close down the center for two years for a glow-up. Critics, including some ex officio trustees, accuse Trump of using the renovation as a cover for the center\u2019s operational failings under his leadership. This time, board members reviewed a new trove of materials before\u2014once again\u2014voting for a full closure.<\/p>\n

I obtained the report, assembled by a consulting firm and a construction-management firm, which presented two scenarios. The two-year-closure plan favored by Trump, which would displace ensembles such as the National Symphony Orchestra until the center reopened, would be covered largely by the $257 million appropriation from Congress that Trump asked for last year. A $560 million plan would extend the renovation to four years but allow programming to continue inside the center. Arts administrators generally try to avoid full shutdowns of major arts venues for fear of breaking audiences\u2019 attendance habits. The uncertainty has deepened a crisis faced by the orchestra, which has been unable to announce its next season.<\/p>\n

Paolo Zampolli, a general trustee who also serves as the Trump administration\u2019s special envoy for global partnerships, says he strongly supports the plans to close. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense to keep it open,\u201d he told me in a phone call after the meeting. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take the double of time and cost the double of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point, Trump joined the meeting virtually, delivering a tirade of \u201cepic proportions\u201d about the center\u2019s disarray, the person familiar with the proceedings told me. Kennedy Center leaders under Trump have long claimed that the building is falling apart and that the president helped turn around the institution. Today\u2019s naming resolution honored his \u201cexistential and unprecedented contributions\u201d to the center.<\/p>\n

Read more Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 Finalists<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very normal that when people do good things, there\u2019s going to be some kind of recognition,\u201d Zampolli told me, adding that he would support Trump\u2019s name being included \u201ceverywhere that it could be possible\u201d at the center. Zampolli, a longtime friend of Trump\u2019s, also said he planned to use his own international business relationships to solicit donations for the institution. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re there,\u201d he said of the general trustees. \u201cThat\u2019s why the president chooses us and has confidence in us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, one of the ex officio trustees, Representative Rick Larsen of Washington State, criticized the name resolution. \u201cThe courts have already determined that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the memorial to the late President and that the current president\u2019s name cannot be used in the public spaces of the memorial,\u201d he said. \u201cIf and when the renovations are done, let\u2019s talk about an appropriate recognition. Until then, let\u2019s get the necessary renovation work done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to my requests for comment, and it has yet to communicate with staff about its renewed plan to close the building, according to two staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal. One of them said employees had suspected leadership would try to proceed with a shutdown, but news of the name resolution was not expected. \u201cThe inscription on the wall is them testing the limits,\u201d the person said. The proposal, as well as the renovation plan, could face pushback from the federal judge assigned to the lawsuit over the center\u2019s future, which was filed earlier this year by Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, one of the ex officio trustees.<\/p>\n

The name resolution will likely renew speculation about why a tarp is still draping the Kennedy Center\u2019s facade. The covering, fastened tightly to a towering system of scaffolding, has obscured John F. Kennedy\u2019s name since June, when leaders say they complied with U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper\u2019s order to remove Trump\u2019s name from the building. So far, they have not provided a compelling reason for why the tarp is still up.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson previously told me that it would remain up \u201cas crews address maintenance needs of the marble and soffit panels.\u201d But the center will have to elaborate on that reasoning in its filing next week, if the tarp is still up.<\/p>\n

When Trump took over the Kennedy Center, he promised to make it \u201chot\u201d again, accusing the former leadership of allowing the building to crumble and the finances to wither. But if his tenure was meant to prove the thesis that he could make the Kennedy Center great again, the evidence is lacking. For many patrons and artists, the center has simply become too politicized to go anywhere near. The latest design tweak almost certainly won\u2019t change that.<\/p>\n

Read more The Flawed Logic of Trump\u2019s Airplane Escape<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The center\u2019s board voted\u2014again\u2014to shut down for a renovation. It threw in a design tweak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump\u2019s New Plan to Get His Name Back on the Kennedy Center - Commercial Relocation Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=2028\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump\u2019s New Plan to Get His Name Back on the Kennedy Center - Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The center\u2019s board voted\u2014again\u2014to shut down for a renovation. 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