Kennedy Center board to propose new options for honoring Trump as center confronts solvency worries
Sep 14, 2026, 9:24 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees is planning to propose adding President Donald Trump’s name to the facility’s exterior in recognition of his saving the building from its “precarious fiscal position,” according to a new court filing in a suit aimed at blocking the addition of his name to the building.
The filing made by Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex-officio member of the board who’s led an effort to block Trump putting his name on the building, said she was alerting the court to the proposal because it could implicate a pending decision before the court.
“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 wrote in the proposed resolution.
The document proposes 10 options for adding the president’s name to the building’s exterior.
Beatty’s filing included two drafted resolutions that are expected to be considered at a board of trustees meeting set for Tuesday.
One is a draft vote to shut the center down, asserting that building is unsafe for occupancy. Beatty’s filing says that assertion incorrectly cites a consulting group’s finding, “which expressly disclaimed providing any such opinion.”
The other document asserts the center faces dire financial straits. It specifically calls for Trump’s name to be placed in marble beneath the name of the center on the building’s exterior. Among the 10 options is the inscription “Renovation and endowment overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.” Another proposes: “With Gratitude for Support from President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”
