Leaders at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts say the institution is on the verge of bankruptcy, with the building facing closure as early as Tuesday. A report prepared before a board meeting scheduled for that day states that putting President Donald Trump’s name on the center’s face on it may be the only way to avoid “imminent and certain fiscal collapse.”.
An internal document, acquired by the Washington Post, runs 57 pages and warns that within a few weeks the institution will no longer be able to pay its staff or cover maintenance costs. The report also raises safety worries linked to the building’s backlog and advises closing the main building at once.
How Trump took over the Kennedy Center
On 10 February 2025, Trump took his first step toward seizing control of the center by dismissing 18 board members appointed under Joe Biden. A few days after that, the remaining trustees — many of them newly installed Trump allies, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and second lady Usha Vance — moved to install him as chair, a break with decades of precedent during which sitting presidents had kept the institution at arm’s length.
Deborah Rutter, who had served as the center’s president since 2014 and already planned to step down seven months later, was fired. She was replaced by Richard Grenell, a Trump ally from his first administration.
The upheaval triggered a flood of resignations and cancellations. Treasurer Shonda Rhimes, artistic adviser Ben Folds and singer Renée Fleming all stepped down from their posts. Actor Issa Rae pulled her sold-out show from the venue in protest. Subscription sales plunged sharply over the following months, with the Post citing a 36% decline by June 2025, and ticket sales kept weakening into the autumn.
Matt Floca took over as president in March, replacing Grenell, who had served as the center’s president. Floca previously held the position of vice-president of facilities operations at the center. The change came during a period of ongoing turmoil.
The legal fight over the name
Trump’s involvement with the Kennedy Center, which included the addition of his name to the building, has already triggered legal fights. A judge ruled in May that the addition of Trump’s name to the center’s facade was illegal and that it needed to be removed. Trump’s name was then removed in June after a judge rejected an emergency appeal blocking the removal.
According to court documents, the board voted in August to bring back Trump’s name on the building and shut the venue down for a lengthy remodeling period.
In separate legal arguments, lawyers representing the center have said that hundreds of millions of dollars in private donations already promised would need to be returned under Trump’s name were not restored to the facade, citing the institution’s bylaws. The board then informed a federal judge that it would wait to add the name until at least 8 October, putting off its earlier schedule by a month.
“a remarkable new phase in Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, which has been engulfed by financial turmoil, leadership upheaval and litigation since he installed himself as chairman”
What the board says now
The trustees’ report represents “a remarkable new phase in Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center,” the Post said, noting that the institution has been engulfed by financial turmoil, leadership upheaval and litigation since Trump became chairman in February 2025.
According to the report, the institution is on borrowed time. It warns that within a few weeks, the center will not be able to pay its staff or keep up with maintenance expenses. The document also raises safety worries linked to the building’s backlog, recommending that the main building be shut down right away.
Trump has agreed to assist the Kennedy Center on one condition: that his contribution be publicly recognized. The Post reported this arrangement.
The stakes on Tuesday
The trustees have framed the decision in stark terms: the center’s leaders argue that acknowledging Trump’s name on the facade is the path to avoiding fiscal collapse.
A request for comment has been made of the Kennedy Center, but the institution has yet to answer.
The fate of the center hangs in doubt, along with the question of whether Trump’s name will endure upon it.