The Kennedy Center board voted to close down the arts institution for two years, but questions about the legality of doing so remain.
At a board meeting Monday, the board, which is now made up of Trump appointees, moved to vote for the closure starting after July 4, due to what the President has described as necessary renovations. The board also voted in favor of The Washington National Opera’s decision to leave the Kennedy Center, according to an attendee at the meeting.
Even before they began, Trump, who has named himself chair of the board, noted that he viewed the vote on the matter as largely irrelevant.
“It’s a little late for the board, because we’ve already announced it. But these are minor details, but I think everybody agrees,” he said in a press conference before the vote.
But Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), an ex-officio board member who attended the meeting after a federal judge ruled she must be allowed to do so, is pushing forward with a lawsuit that seeks a preliminary injunction against the closure as well as the renaming of the institution to the Trump-Kennedy Center.
“While I’m not against renovations, if they need to be done, I am totally against the process: it being unlawful, them not checking with the Congress and having an opportunity for the Congress to weigh in,” Beatty told reporters after the board meeting.
Beatty was allowed to briefly speak at the meeting about her disapproval on the matters, but was not allowed to vote at this meeting, per the judge’s ruling. She said the matters were unanimously agreed upon by a voice vote from the group, but the board did not ask each member for a yay or nay vote individually. She added that some members came up to her after the meeting to voice their support for her speaking up, and that Trump “did not cut me off. We had a few stares, but he did not cut me off,” she said.
Amb. Norm Eisen, co-executive chair of Democracy Defenders Action, and Nathaniel Zelinsky, of the Washington Litigation Group, are representing her in this matter and say they play to return to court “expeditiously” to address the “illegality” of the closing, as well as the renaming of the living memorial for President Kennedy.
The need for renovations at the Kennedy Center and the budget for doing so has also come into question. Trump has said there was a “one-year review” ahead of the closure announcement, and said Monday that “major renovations are required to keep the facility functional,” but the extent so far seems unclear.
“It’s in very, very bad condition. It’s been somewhat of a disaster, to be honest with you. It’s been ‘Let go’ to hell,” he said.
Among the renovations, Trump said the building’s heating system would be replaced and new marble would be installed, and new theater seating would be added. He also made reference to the wealth of the board members sitting around him, including Ike Perlmutter, the former Marvel Entertainment chairman. Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, was also in attendance with his wife, Dr. Dana Blumberg, who is on the board. Beatty said she also noted this comment when she addressed the board.
“I really wanted to let them know. ‘Think about if you were building your office, building your home, and you had not received any information, and the day before deciding the budget, the money, the needs, the ramifications, you signed off on it.’ There was dead silence, and I looked at each one of them and I said, ‘I’m going to go so far as to say I don’t believe you would vote and sign off on such a deal,’” she said.
In addition Trump spoke about what he saw as the “very woke and out of touch with reality” programming he said was previously at the Kennedy Center, as well as claims of its dire financial straits. Since he took over the center, many artists have canceled their engagements at the center, which some have also viewed as reason for temporarily closing the center.
Richard Grennell, a friend of Trump’s who had led the Kennedy Center as president through the board and programming changes, has stepped down from the position, as Matt Floca, the vp of operations at the Kennedy Center takes over. Trump addressed the change in front of the two at the meeting Monday, saying that Grennell was not “fired,” and Floca was better equipped to oversee the construction.
“He didn’t get fired. He was here for a short period of time, for a year, figuring it out with Matt and everybody else,” Trump said.
