The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, widely known as the Kennedy Center, will be renamed the “Trump-Kennedy Center,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Thursday.
The press secretary said in an X post the center’s board of trustees—whose members were appointed by President Donald Trump in February—“have just voted unanimously” to approve the change.
They did so “because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building,” Leavitt continued. “Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur.”
I have just been informed that the highly respected 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, because of the unbelievable work President Trump…
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) December 18, 2025
The president named himself a chairman of the Kennedy Center earlier this year after taking office. He hinted at the name change in October in a Truth Social post.
“The new TRUMP KENNEDY, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, columns,” he wrote while promising major improvements were on the way.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was named in the late president’s honor in 1964 following his assassination. The performing arts center has since been a cultural hub in Washington D.C. for theater, dance, classical music, jazz and pop and has become the official residence of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera.
In July, House Republican’s introduced a bill that aimed to strip former President Kennedy’s name from the center, turning it into the Trump Center for the Performing Arts.
The theater name change was part of legislation introduced by Rep. Bob Onder (R-Mo.) called the Make Entertainment Great Again (MEGA) Act. Onder noted in his bill proposal that Trump was intended “to preserve the integrity of the fine arts by ending woke programming and rebalancing the Kennedy Center’s $234 million budget” since being elected chairman.
Trump was appointed chair of the Kennedy Center in February as the center’s longtime president, Deborah F. Rutter, was swiftly fired from her position following his January inauguration. Trump loyalist Richard Grenell was then appointed the center’s interim president.
In March and April, single ticket sales for Kennedy Center events dropped by 50% compared to the same period in 2024, following Trump’s appointment as chairman. Subscriptions to the National Symphony Orchestra dropped 28% and Washington National Opera subscriptions by 25%. Subsequently, theatrical revenues were down by an astonishing 86%, and dance revenues by 57%, according to The New York Times.
