Topline
The Kennedy Center’s board of trustees will meet Tuesday afternoon to discuss closure plans amid “recently exacerbated structural emergencies,” according to an internal email sent to trustees, which was included in a court filing overnight, as the center also faces a court hearing in its battle to reinstate President Donald Trump’s name.
The Kennedy Center’s board will meet Tuesday to discuss closure plans. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Key Facts
The Kennedy Center’s Tuesday afternoon board of trustees meeting will focus “exclusively on the necessary closure of the Center” because of “recently exacerbated structural emergencies,” according to an email sent to trustees by Vice President for Board Relations Joe LaFauci.
The email did not specify what structural issues the Kennedy Center is facing, but the court filing was made soon after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick posted a video of security camera footage that depicts a portion of the ceiling collapsing.
LaFauci’s email appears to imply the board will no longer vote Tuesday to select one of 10 proposed inscriptions that would honor Trump on the Kennedy Center venue’s marble facade, though his email said the board still “stands by the recognition resolution.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, the plaintiff who sued over the Kennedy Center’s Trump name change, submitted a filing to the court Monday including two draft resolutions the board of trustees were meant to consider Tuesday, one of which concerns the venue’s closure plans while the other is about the Trump name inscription.
The closure resolution, if adopted, would close the Kennedy Center’s main building for “immediate repair and restoration work,” while moving programming to off-site venues and the smaller Reach building on the Kennedy Center campus.
The resolution says at some point after the board’s Aug. 13 meeting, “additional water intrusion and deterioration of the Center’s physical plant” caused a partial ceiling collapse in the venue’s Grand Foyer, “endangering visitors and employees alike.”
what to watch for
Both parties in the Kennedy Center court case are due to appear for a hearing Tuesday morning, which federal judge Christopher R. Cooper said in an order last week is for a “scheduling conference.” Cooper has yet to rule on Beatty’s motion to block the Kennedy Center from inscribing Trump’s name on the venue’s marble facade.
tangent
Though the Kennedy Center board may not vote Tuesday to inscribe Trump’s name, it had circulated a resolution to trustees with 10 proposals for what the inscription might say. Some of the wording is highly flattering, including proposed text that would thank Trump for his “unwavering support” and “generosity” in fundraising for the venue. One proposal would say, “A Legacy protected through the Generosity of President Donald J. Trump.” Beatty has accused the institution of attempting to sidestep the court’s earlier ruling, which barred the venue from changing its name to the Trump-Kennedy Center.
Kennedy Center Paints Dire Portrait Of Finances
In court filings and the draft resolutions the Kennedy Center proposed for Tuesday’s meeting, the center has warned it faces “certain fiscal collapse” within the coming weeks. “President Trump has offered to step in and raise the necessary funds to keep the Center from bankruptcy during its much needed renovation,” the draft resolution proposing the Trump inscription reads. The Kennedy Center has argued in court that some donors will only contribute if Trump is recognized in some way. The resolution says the institution plans to “undertake all legal means to effectuate one or more of the following public recognitions or acknowledgements to the President.” In a court filing last month, the Kennedy Center’s lawyers suggested the venue may need to be torn down if Trump’s name is not added.
key background
The Kennedy Center and Beatty have been locked in a court battle over the venue’s attempt to rebrand itself with Trump’s name for months. In May, Cooper ruled the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees could not unilaterally change its name to the Trump-Kennedy Center, noting Congress has the ability to name the institution. “The Kennedy Center’s organic statute 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,” Cooper wrote in his ruling. Beatty has argued the proposed inscription of Trump’s name would violate that order. In June, the Kennedy Center removed Trump’s name from the facade, but scaffolding and tarps have covered the sign ever since.
Leave a comment