Trump's handpicked board votes to rename Washington performing arts
center the Trump Kennedy Center
[December 19, 2025]
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s handpicked board voted
Thursday to rename Washington’s leading performing arts center as the
Trump Kennedy Center, the White House said, in a move that made
Democrats fume, saying the board had overstepped its legal authority.
Congress named the center after President John F. Kennedy in 1964, after
his assassination. Donald A. Ritchie, who served as Senate historian
from 2009-2015, said that because Congress had first named the center it
would be up to Congress to “amend the law.”
Ritchie said that while Trump and others can “informally” refer to the
center by a different name, they couldn’t do it in a way “that would
(legally) stick.”
But the board did not wait for that debate to play out, immediately
changing the branding on its website to reflect the new name.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has made the center a
touchstone in a broader attack against what he has lambasted as “woke”
anti-American culture.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters that a name
change requires legislative action.
“Only Congress can rename the Kennedy Center,” said the New York
Democrat, who serves on the board as an ex officio member because of his
position in Congress.
Trump has teased the name change for some time
Roma Daravi, a spokesperson for the center, said its board voted
unanimously for the new name: The Donald J. Trump and The John F.
Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the vote on
social media, attributing it to the “unbelievable work" she said Trump
has done on the center since he returned to office in January.
Trump, a Republican who's chairman of the board, said he was honored.
“The board is a very distinguished board, most distinguished people in
the country, and I was surprised by it and I was honored by it,” he said
at the White House.
Trump had already been referring to the center as the “Trump Kennedy
Center.” Asked Dec. 7 as he walked the red carpet for the Kennedy Center
Honors program whether he would rename the venue after himself, Trump
said such a decision would be up to the board.
Earlier this month, he talked about a “big event" happening at the
"Trump Kennedy Center” before saying, “excuse me, at the Kennedy
Center,” as his audience laughed. He was referring to the FIFA World Cup
soccer draw for 2026, in which he participated.
Kennedy family members aren't on board with it
The board vote did not sit well with some of the Kennedys.
Maria Shriver, a niece of John F. Kennedy, said it is “beyond
comprehension” that Trump has sought to add his name to the memorial to
her uncle and “beyond wild” that he would think doing so is acceptable.
“It is not,” she said in a social media post.
Shriver said Kennedy was a president who brought the arts into the White
House and she speculated that Trump might next seek to rename John F.
Kennedy International Airport in New York or any of the other memorials
to presidents in Washington.
Earlier this year, Trump renovated the Kennedy-era Rose Garden at the
White House to replace the lawn with paving stones.
In his own post on the social platform X, Shriver's brother, Tim
Shriver, called the renaming an “insult to a great president.”
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The Kennedy Center is seen Thursday, Dec, 18, 2025 in Washington.
(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
 Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is
cousins with the Shrivers, serves in Trump’s Cabinet as secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Services.
Congressional reaction breaks along party lines
Republicans approved of the vote while Democrats denounced it.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is close to Trump, called it a
“well-deserved honor” for the president “because he has poured his
heart and soul into refurbishing and revitalizing” the institution.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, another ex officio board member, said she
participated in the meeting remotely and was muted when she tried to
voice her concerns about the vote. “This is just another attempt to
evade the law and not let the people have a say,” she said.
In response, Daravi said the entire board was invited to attend in
person “and the privilege of listening in on the meeting was granted
to all members, even those without a vote," such as Beatty.
Beatty is among a group of non-voting Democratic lawmakers serving
on the board who said the vote was illegal.
A bill introduced in Congress in July by Rep. Bob Order, R-Mo., — if
passed and signed into law — would designate the John F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts as the Donald J. Trump Center for the
Performing Arts. The House transportation committee has yet to take
up the bill.
Trump is more focused on the Kennedy Center
Trump showed scant interest in the Kennedy Center during his first
term as president, but since returning to office in January he has
replaced board members appointed by Democratic presidents with some
of his most ardent supporters, who then elected him as board
chairman.
He has criticized the center’s past programming as too liberal and
current physical appearance and has vowed to overhaul both.
Trump secured more than $250 million from the Republican-controlled
Congress for renovations of the building, including the promise of
fresh paint, new seats in the theaters and other upgrades.
He attended opening night of the musical “Les Misérables,” and last
week he served as host of the Kennedy Center Honors program after
not attending the show during his first term as president. The
awards program is scheduled to be broadcast by CBS and Paramount+ on
Dec. 23.
Sales of subscription packages are said to have declined since
Trump's takeover of the center, and several touring productions,
including “Hamilton,” have canceled planned runs there. Rows of
empty seats have been seen in the Concert Hall during performances
by the National Symphony Orchestra.
Some performers, including actor Issa Rae and musician Rhiannon
Giddens, have scrapped scheduled appearances, and Kennedy Center
consultants including musician Ben Folds and singer Renée Fleming
have resigned.
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AP National Writer Hillel Italie in New York and Associated Press
writers Kevin Freking, Mary Clare Jalonick and Lisa Mascaro in
Washington contributed to this report.
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