Workers at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts began installing new signage to include President Trump’s name on the cultural mecca.
Photographs on social media and elsewhere showed large letters spelling “Trump” on the floor of the building’s main entrance. A blue tarp was draped over part of the outside, with a handful of people on scaffolding working on the exterior.
Loud drilling could be heard from the building, according to people near the location.
The activity is similar to when Mr. Trump renamed the U.S. Institute for Peace after himself this month. Workers quickly added his name to several areas of the agency’s building.
The performing arts center’s board of trustees, which Mr. Trump chose, voted Thursday to rename the cultural center in honor of Presidents Kennedy and Trump, rebranding it the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”
“The unanimous vote recognizes that the current chairman [Mr. Trump] saved the institution from financial ruin and physical destruction,” spokeswoman Roma Daravi said in a statement. “The new Trump-Kennedy Center reflects the unequivocal support for America’s cultural center for generations to come.”
Mr. Trump had been inserting his name into the title before the board voted. He promoted the FIFA World Cup soccer draw for 2026 by declaring it would be held at the “Trump-Kennedy Center” before saying, “excuse me, at the Kennedy Center,” drawing laughter from the crowd.
Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, a Democrat and an ex officio member of the board, disputed claims by Ms. Daravi and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt that the vote was unanimous. She said she tried to object but was muted on the call.
“I was on that call, and as I tried to push my button to voice my concern, to ask questions and certainly not to vote in support of this, I was muted,” she said in a video posted to X. “Each time I tried to speak, I was muted.”
