Nearly six months after a federal judge blocked former President Donald Trump’s plan to add his name to the iconic Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., the venue’s board of trustees – heavily populated with political allies appointed by Trump – has approved a controversial workaround to keep his branding on the building, multiple major U.S. media outlets reported Friday.
The vote, held Thursday, would add the inscription “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” directly beneath the Kennedy Center’s main entrance signage, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the closed-door proceedings. It remains unclear how the new plan will comply with a May court ruling that only Congress holds the legal authority to alter the venue’s official facade naming, a decision that forced the full removal of Trump’s original signage in mid-June.
The incident follows a pattern of aggressive legacy branding from Trump since he returned to the White House in January 2025, which has broken longstanding political norms by attaching his name and image to dozens of federal institutions and public assets across the country. In December 2024, the Kennedy Center board initially voted to rename the entire venue “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” adding large lettering of Trump’s name above John F. Kennedy’s on the main facade. The move sparked widespread backlash, leading to mass performance cancellations and a sharp nosedive in ticket sales for remaining scheduled events.
After the signage removal order in June, Kennedy Center Executive Director Matt Floca confirmed in a public statement that all physical branding containing Trump’s name had been taken down from the building and surrounding grounds. However, a large protective tarp and scaffolding have remained draped over the facade ever since, fueling persistent speculation that the board planned to find a way to reinsert Trump’s name.
Alongside the naming vote Thursday, the board also gave formal approval to restart a two-year major renovation project for the Kennedy Center’s main building, which will upgrade outdated heating and cooling systems, electrical infrastructure, and fire safety networks, with completion targeted for summer 2028. That project was also previously blocked by the same federal judge, who ruled the board had failed to complete required public review processes before approving the plan, but left open the possibility of reconsidering the project after additional scrutiny. The Kennedy Center has not yet responded to requests for comment from Agence France-Presse on the outcome of Thursday’s board meeting.
Trump’s post-January 2025 push to brand federal public spaces extends far beyond the Kennedy Center. The shuttered U.S. Institute of Peace was renamed in Trump’s honor earlier this year, and large banners bearing his portrait have been hung outside the U.S. Justice Department and Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington. His image also appears on a new limited-edition U.S. passport, and the major international airport serving West Palm Beach, Florida, near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, has been officially renamed after him.