Kennedy Center votes to put Trump’s name back on building and close for renovations

By Sunlen Serfaty, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s handpicked board of the Kennedy Center has voted a second time to close the performing arts institution for renovations, according to two people who were briefed on the decision.

The board also voted to add an inscription below the Kennedy Center’s sign, saying the arts complex was “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” the sources said.

As part of the renovation plan, the board voted to keep open part of the complex separate from the main building, called the REACH, which will host smaller scale shows, they added.

The historic arts center has been in legal limbo and faced drama for much of the year as the Kennedy Center’s abrupt decision to close for a two-year renovation drew scrutiny and after the president attempted to rename the institution after himself.

Trump had announced plans earlier in the year to close the center, which he said was “in bad condition” as he has made reshaping the Washington institution a priority in his second term. In December, the board of trustees voted to rename it the Trump Kennedy Center.

In May, however, a federal judge blocked the center’s planned two-year closure, demanding the board consider maintaining some programming during renovations to carry out its congressionally mandated activities.

US District Judge Casey Cooper in Washington, DC, also said the center’s board violated the law when it added Trump’s name to the performing arts venue.

The law establishing the center “makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” wrote Cooper, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

The institution has also faced slumping ticket sales, artist withdrawals, political controversies and a diminished staff, which have made it challenging to restart a full-scale programming schedule, multiple sources familiar with the matter previously told CNN.

Trump’s name was removed from the facade of the Kennedy Center in June after the court order. The institution name remains hidden by large tarps.

One of the sources briefed on the Thursday vote said that the idea is that Trump’s name now being included below the sign is not a move to “rename” the center. Another source said it would serve as a “permanent reminder” of his undermining of the institution.

CNN has reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Devan Cole contributed to this report.