The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to immediately close the performing arts venue, a few hours after a federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s name could not be restored to its facade, according to sources familiar with the situation. It remains unclear when the venue might actually close since U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper would have to lift his preliminary injunction against the closure — an action that will almost certainly be fought in court.

Trump, however, threatened to block the renovation if his name isn’t restored to the building.

“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,” he wrote on Truth Social.

The whipsaw turn of events came after a 57-page packet was distributed to the board over the weekend claiming the center was in egregious physical decline and nearly bankrupt — a prospect that could be avoided only with Trump’s help.

“The Kennedy Center is in such a precarious fiscal position that it will not be able to support its payroll obligations, nor routine maintenance contracts within a matter of weeks,” the draft resolution seeking the addition of Trump’s name reads. It continues, if Trump is not “legally and appropriately recognized and acknowledged on the facade of the Kennedy Center,” it is doubtful he will agree to “carry the burden of managing the renovation and [provide] the Center with a much required financial rescue.”

In a 22-page ruling Tuesday, Cooper wrote, “Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing.”

The vote to shut down for a two-year, $250-million renovation comes after previous efforts by the Trump-appointed board to close the venue and add Trump’s name have been stymied in court — most recently in May when Cooper first ruled that only Congress could rename the venue. Cooper did not rule that the board could not shut down the center, only that it should take more time to consider the issue.

In mid-August the board again voted to move forward with Trump’s plan to shutter the building for renovations and to inscribe Trump’s name on the facade. Tuesday’s vote solidified those plans, tying the closure and the need for Trump’s name to imminent bankruptcy and building conditions that it alleges are dangerous to staff and the public.

Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex-officio member of the board, who sued late last year to block Trump’s name from being added to the facade, included the two new draft resolutions in a court filing Monday, hoping to get Cooper to consider them at a discovery hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

“For years, the Kennedy Center has planned to undergo phased renovations, in which we both renovate and maintain some performances. This is how major performing arts centers in the country operate. But donors, patrons, and artists all fled after the unlawful attempt to rename this sacred memorial after Donald Trump,” Beatty said in a statement to The Times. “Donald Trump only cares about the Kennedy Center for his vanity. That is wrong and it is a breach of his fiduciary duty as a trustee. Congress established the Kennedy Center as a living memorial to President Kennedy, and I am proud to defend this cherished institution.”

In her most recent filing, Beatty’s lawyers argued that documents distributed to the board of trustees over the weekend, which contained the draft resolutions and made the case for closure, “incorrectly asserts that the Delta Consulting Group considers the main building ‘unsafe for continued occupancy,’ when Delta expressly disclaimed providing any such opinion.”

The filing also notes that the draft resolution “seeks to justify the closure by citing a recent leak in the building which caused a portion of the ceiling plaster to detach,” and notes that, “In the past, similar such defects appear to have been addressed without closing the Center.”

“The Board’s latest shutdown vote is more of the same failure and abuse that has characterized this administration’s treatment of the Kennedy Center,” said Beatty’s counsel, Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Action and Nathaniel Zelinsky of Washington Litigation Group. “The unlawful renaming drove audiences and artists away. Now the Board has voted to shut down yet again to hide the terrible mismanagement under its current leadership. We’ll see the Defendants in court.”

The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the closure.

This latest chapter in the battle over the future of the Kennedy Center comes after more than a year and a half of turmoil arising from Trump’s February 2025 decision to fire the center’s board and appoint himself chairman. The move set off a chain reaction that included an exodus of high-profile talent and shows — a trend that ramped up again in December when the board voted to rebrand the venue after Trump, placing his name above that of former President Kennedy.

In February, Trump announced his plans to close the building for renovations beginning July 4, which was pushed back amid ongoing litigation.

The board notes that the center will continue to present educational and artistic programming at the venue’s new Reach expansion, and it will also still present the Kennedy Center Honors and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor offsite. The proposal cited the center’s continuing support for the National Symphony Orchestra, which has also been performing at alternate venues.

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