Kennedy Center Warns of Bankruptcy Unless Trump’s Name Is Added
The caution, contained in a draft resolution to the center’s board, comes as a federal judge decides whether President Trump’s name should remain off the building.
By Julia Jacobs
Sept. 13, 2026
Officials at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts have warned in documents that the institution faces “certain fiscal collapse within weeks” unless President Trump’s name is added back to the building in some fashion.
The warning, contained in a draft resolution ahead of a board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, appears to be part of an effort by Trump-allied officials to convince a judge that the institution’s financial health hinges on placing a tribute to the president on the building’s facade.
The judge, Christopher R. Cooper, ruled months ago that the president’s name should be removed from the building because Congress needed to have approved its renaming as the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”
The draft resolution shared with trustees says the center is at risk of bankruptcy and of missing payroll — but that Mr. Trump has “offered to step in and raise the necessary funds” to save the center. The draft resolution presents 10 options for how to add Mr. Trump’s name below the main signage on the front of the center.
“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 draft resolution says.
Mr. Trump took over the Kennedy Center at the start of his second term, and the board voted last December to add his name to the building. Weeks later, Mr. Trump announced a plan to close the center for two years for a renovation project to transform what he called a “dilapidated” structure.
In May, Judge Cooper temporarily blocked the closure and ordered Mr. Trump’s name removed from the building.
The center complied while pursuing an appeal. But in recent weeks, board members have moved aggressively to restore his name in an inscription beneath the building’s title.
One option included in the draft resolution, which was first reported by The Washington Post, reads, “renovated, restored, and sustained through the generosity of President Donald J. Trump.” Another says, “renovation, oversight, and support provided by President Donald J. Trump.”
Editors’ Picks
How to Lure the Spendy and the Thrifty? Bring On the ‘Barbell.’
To Fight in Brooklyn, First He Had to Shave. Then He Got a Musket.
Worried About Your College Kid? Now You Can Hire a Local Mom.
The documents were shared days before a court hearing before Judge Cooper. Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio and an ex officio board member whose lawsuit prompted the court’s scrutiny of the center, has objected to the center’s plans for the inscription. In court papers, her lawyers called the effort a “childish refusal” to accept the judge’s previous order.
In a statement on Sunday, lawyers for Ms. Beatty, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, described the documents as “the third attempt to deface this sacred memorial and turn it into a vanity project for one man’s ego.”
Roma Daravi, a spokeswoman for the center, declined to comment on the documents.
Paolo Zampolli, a board member and longtime Trump ally, said in a brief phone interview on Sunday that the addition of the president’s name to the building was critical to the center’s financial health because “Trump attracts money.”
“So when Trump says donate to this place, everyone will donate,” he said.
Some donors, though, took exception to the fact that Mr. Trump’s name was added to the building, and were part of an exodus that included artists and audience members unwilling to associate with an increasingly politicized institution. Ms. Beatty’s lawsuit contends that decision is part of the reason the center now finds itself in a financial quandary.
Kennedy Center officials have repeatedly blamed previous leadership for the institution’s financial problems.
The documents shared with the board included another draft resolution that suggests the center’s main building should be closed immediately, citing a recent incident in which a section of plaster fell from the ceiling of the building’s Grand Foyer during a storm. Ms. Daravi has framed that event as evidence of an urgent need for the building’s closure.
“This structural failure stems from decades of neglect and deferred maintenance by the previous leadership,” she said in a statement this month, “and there’s no justification for further delays in restoring America’s cultural center.”
Judge Cooper temporarily blocked the center from fully closing, but he did not prevent the staff from pursuing renovations, which have been funded by $257 million from Congress.
Although the building has been open to the public as a memorial to President Kennedy, its programming calendar has been largely bare for weeks. The National Symphony Orchestra, the center’s resident ensemble, has booked its season at other local venues. And the center’s staff has been diminished to a small fraction of what it was before Mr. Trump’s takeover.
SHARED link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/arts/design/trump-kennedy-center-bankruptcy-closure.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BFE.7bQ1.n-2nN_RzH10J&smid=url-share