Arts and Cultural Institutions

Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and Kennedy Center trustee, has filed a federal civil lawsuit arguing the Kennedy Center board illegally added President Donald Trump’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in a Dec. 18–19, 2025 vote, saying Congress alone can rename what it designated in the 1960s as the capital’s sole national memorial to JFK. The suit seeks a court declaration that the institution’s legal name remains “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” and that the Trump‑backed renaming vote is null and void, with the administration expected to formally respond by the end of February. Beatty’s complaint portrays the ouster of prior trustees, installation of Trump loyalists, election of Trump as board chair and appointment of Richard Grenell as interim president as an “authoritarian” power play that has damaged the center’s finances, audience and artistic mission, beyond the unknown cost of rebranding signage and websites. In parallel, Rep. April McClain Delaney has introduced a bill that would require removal of any signage or identification differing from the statutory name, and Rep. Stephen Lynch has offered a House resolution formally condemning the change, with sponsors warning that allowing a sitting president to emblazon his own name on a congressional memorial sets a dangerous precedent. A Kennedy Center spokeswoman defended the move by crediting Trump with “saving America’s cultural center after years of neglect,” while outside counsel Norm Eisen told CBS the losses to “the performing corps, to the audience base, to the bottom line of the Center, to its memorial and other activities and indeed to the arts and arts education themselves have been vast.” The fight is already drawing sharp reaction online, with critics comparing the renaming to strongman self‑monuments and supporters accusing Democrats of weaponizing culture, underscoring how even the branding of a national arts institution has become another front in Trump‑era legal and political battles.