According to a report by The Washington Post on the 26th, after the name of U.S. President Trump was added to the Kennedy Performing Arts Center, the revenue from ticket sales and fundraising at the center plummeted significantly. However, the management of the center publicly claimed that their financial situation had improved.
In 2025, the name on the exterior walls of the art center was briefly changed to “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Memorial Center”. However, in May 2026, a court order required the removal of this name. The name “Trump” was subsequently covered with waterproof tarpaulins in June 2026.
Data shows that ticket revenues began to decline within 10 months after Trump took control of the institution. In December last year, a board of directors led by Trump voted to rename the center in his honor and engrave his name on its facade. Since then, both ticket sales and donation revenues have plummeted.
A batch of documents obtained by The Washington Post show that the management was aware that both revenue indicators were deteriorating rapidly, yet they presented Trump's takeover as a financial rescue effort.
For example, in a losing lawsuit filed in June this year, which sought to preserve the name of Trump on the building, a lawyer from the Department of Justice wrote that re-naming the center after Trump “saved the Kennedy Center.” Without this action, the institution would have faced “financial and structural collapse.”
Just one week before submitting that document in June, the financial projections of the Kennedy Center itself showed that after the name change, ticket sales and fundraising would decline sharply, with the revenue gap approaching $100 million.
In a new document submitted on August 24th, the lawyer claimed that without Trump’s naming and renovation plans, the building “would have to be demolished.” He argued that if the Kennedy Center did not undergo a $250 million renovation, the building would become “unsafe and dilapidated,” and would then be demolished or converted into a large outdoor circular theater.
According to reports, this set of internal budgets, management forecasts, board meeting records, and financial presentations for the first time revealed in full the deteriorating financial situation at the Kennedy Center during the one and a half years after Trump replaced dozens of board members and took on the role of chairman. Even with significant cost cuts, center officials expect operating income to be 70% lower than budget targets, and donation revenue to be 25% below the target. The revenue shortfall is expected to result in a deficit of $23 million for the center.
A official familiar with the center's financial situation said, "When Trump took control, the center suffered a huge blow. Although it seemed to stabilize for a while later, after the name change, its finances plummeted. Donors disappeared, ticket sales reached zero, and artists stopped coming—it was like the end of the world."
Andrew Taylor, Director of the Art Management Program at American University, reviewed these documents and described the decline in revenue as a ‘vertical plunge’. He stated that Trump’s takeover of the institution had consequences, and one of those consequences was a catastrophic decline in revenue.
In response to a series of questions posed by The Washington Post, a spokesperson for the Kennedy Center attributed the financial difficulties to the previous management, stating that the organization inherited a mess caused by years of poor management.
The spokesperson stated that having Trump's name engraved on the building attracted new donors, and it also helped raise funds for the renovation project. Additionally, the proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 has been balanced.
The report states that the independent audit financial report, which should have contained complete financial data from the early days of Trump's tenure during the first full fiscal year under his leadership at the Kennedy Center, has been overdue for several months and still has not been released to the public.
