DC‘s premier cultural center will soon feature a new name.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared Thursday that the ‘Board of the Kennedy Center, some of the most successful people from all parts of the world, have just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center.’
Kennedy Center’s Vice President of Public Relations Roma Daravi told Daily Mail that the ‘unanimous vote recognizes that the current Chairman saved the institution from financial ruin and physical destruction.’
‘The new Trump Kennedy Center reflects the unequivocal bipartisan support for America’s cultural center for generations to come,’ Daravi added.
The center will now be known as The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
During the Kennedy Center Honors earlier this month, President Trump himself was asked by reporters if the entire Kennedy Center should bear his name.
He responded at the time that the decision should be left up to the institution’s board.
Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell told the Daily Mail earlier this month that President Donald Trump’s real estate background saved the 54-year-old landmark from demolition.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the 48th annual Kennedy Center Honors at the Kennedy Center on December 07, 2025 in Washington, DC
President of the Kennedy Center Richard Grenell poses on the red carpet for the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 7, 2025
‘When I arrived at our building, people and our engineers said we should tear down the Kennedy Center, completely start over, and go to Congress and ask for massive amounts of money,’ Grenell said.
Grenell took Trump on a tour to assess the damage firsthand. ‘We went downstairs, I showed him the sewer system that is collapsing,’ he said.
‘We have lawsuits from drivers who have driven underneath the Kennedy Center—the concrete ceiling is falling on cars now. Where was the media for the last five to seven years as this place was falling apart?’
Unlike the controversial decision to tear down the East Wing of the White House, Trump opted to save the Kennedy Center.
‘I can save it,’ he told Grenell, choosing renovation over demolition. Trump asked Congress for $250 million for the project in the ‘One Big Beautiful’ bill that passed just before the bicameral July 4 recess.
