Kennedy Center Board Votes to Close Main Building After Judge Blocks Name Change

The board of trustees for the Kennedy Center voted Tuesday, September 15, 2026, to immediately close the performing arts center's main building in Washington.

The vote followed a court ruling that blocked a plan to add President Donald Trump's name to the building. The Kennedy Center, the national cultural center and living memorial to former President John F. Kennedy, sits on the Potomac River and hosts opera, theater, dance and concerts.

President Donald Trump said the closure was for safety repairs, according to Town & Country. Congress has allocated $257 million to pay for those repairs.

Trump also said those repairs would only happen if the board was allowed to move forward with plans to put his name on the building. A federal judge has twice ruled against adding his name.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that defendants cannot install memorials for Trump or anyone else at the Kennedy Center without approval from Congress. That decision left the naming plan stalled.

Kennedy Center officials tied the closure vote to money problems as well as the dispute involving Trump, according to AP. Officials described the center as facing "fiscal collapse" in connection with the vote to close for renovations, according to The Hill.

Members of the Kennedy family responded quickly. Kerry Kennedy, the sister of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said on CNN that the closure was a "tragedy" and "hostage taking by the president." She appealed to Trump to focus on what is more important and leave the Kennedy Center alone.

Maria Shriver also responded to Trump's post about the closure. She wrote that withholding renovations unless his name is put on the building "blows my mind" and called it "What a tragedy." In the same post, she called conditioning the work on adding his name "small minded" and "narcissistic."

The immediate closure vote caps months of conflict over the center's future. An earlier board vote in August had called for a two-year closure and sought to restore Trump's name to the building, according to AP reporting from that month. A plan described in February would have closed the center on July 4, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

For audiences, this means the main building is now shut while repairs, funding and the naming fight are sorted out. No reopening date was set in the most recent vote.