The Kennedy Center created a new endowment in President Donald J. Trump's name on Thursday, hours before it moved to keep fighting the court order that forced his name off the building. The board voted unanimously to acknowledge his contributions by all legal means.
The move gives the center a way to keep Trump's name attached to its fundraising without leaving it on the building itself. A Kennedy Center official said the Trump Kennedy Center Fund will be a landmark commitment to securing the future of the nation's preeminent performing arts institution, while Roma Davari said the center remains fully compliant with the court's directive as it weighs its legal options.
The timing matters because the center removed Trump's name from the building this weekend to comply with a D.C. District Court ruling issued last month, and the board also voted Friday to file an emergency appeal. The judge had ruled less than two weeks ago that the board acted unlawfully when it added the president's name and when it made plans for two years of closure and renovations, then ordered the name removed by June 12.
The administration tried to stop that outcome with a last-minute request to stay the injunction pending appeal, arguing in a court filing last week that reverting to the original name would force refunds on donations made to The Trump Kennedy Center. The center's answer was different: the building changed, the fundraising plan did not, and the board still had room to recognize President Donald J. Trump's role.
That is where the friction now sits. The new fund may be aimed at the building's physical disrepair, according to a source familiar with the plans, but no one has said how much money it is meant to raise or what exact repairs it will cover. Trump remains chairman of the board, which is largely made up of his allies, and a Kennedy Center official said the center will remain a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy while it continues to rely on private endowments and $257 million in federal funding.
For Joyce Beatty, who sued the administration over the name change and closure last year, the weekend removal of Trump's name was the point the fight had been building toward. “Today's victory is the beginning of returning the Kennedy Center to the American people,” she said. “The rule of law prevailed, and that is worth celebrating.” What happens next is now narrower and sharper: the appeal will decide whether the board's new fund survives as a workaround, or whether the court's order leaves Trump's name only in the fundraising ledger and nowhere on the building itself.
