The Board of Trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted to rename the iconic institution the Trump-Kennedy Center. The voting was held on 18 December 2025. This decision marked a historic and highly controversial shift for the premier cultural center of the United States and a living memorial to John F. Kennedy.
Note that the White House, via Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, announced that the board had voted to formally change the name of the institution to The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” In public branding and on the official website, it is being referred to as the Trump-Kennedy Center.
Both the White House and Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi characterized the vote as unanimous. Furthermore, almost immediately after the announcement, the official website and social media profiles of the institution, as well as other relevant digital assets across the internet, were updated with a new logo featuring both names.
The primary reason cited for the renaming was the direct intervention of United States President Donald Trump in the operations of the center over the past year. Press Secretary Leavitt stated the rebranding was a recognition of how the U.S. president saved the building. These include efforts like physical reconstruction and financial stabilization.
It is worth mentioning that Trump took the unprecedented action of appointing himself as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees earlier in 2025. This position is usually held by a private citizen. His self-appointment was preceded by purging previous board members and installing new ones who are considered loyal to him or are close allies.
Supporters of the move, including Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell, argued that the leadership of Trump has restored luxury and glamour to the venue, which they claimed had fallen on hard times. Grenell served as acting director of national intelligence in 2020 under the first Trump administration and currently serves as a special envoy.
The vote was carried out by a board that Trump had aggressively reshaped since returning to office in January 2025. It includes Trump administration figures and supporters, such as White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Second Lady Usha Vance, and media personalities like Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo.
Note that the present board also includes ex-officio members. These include Congressional leaders and Cabinet secretaries. Most of these members, including Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, were not present for the vote or were excluded from the decision-making process. The “unanimous” characterization has been challenged.
Democrat representative Joyce Beatty, an ex-officio board member, publicly refuted the claim that the vote was unanimous. She stated she was present on the call but was muted and prevented from voicing her opposition or asking questions. Members of the Kennedy family, especially Maria Shriver and Jack Schlossberg, have expressed deep outrage.
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