The Kennedy Center changed its board rules earlier this year, paving the way for President Donald Trump’s name to be added to the performing arts organization, according to a new report.
The center’s bylaws were altered in May so that ex officio members — who are designated by Congress — could not cast votes or count towards a quorum, The Washington Post reported.
The Republican president took over the center in February, ousting board members he hadn’t appointed and adding several new members, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Second Lady Usha Vance. He’s said he is on a mission to remove “woke” programming.
On December 18, the board voted to rebrand the center “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” The signage on the building was quickly altered to reflect the change.
Democrats in Congress and some legal experts have denounced the move, describing it as illegal to change the name of a memorial to former President John F. Kennedy. Some have also claimed that ex officio members should have been allowed to vote on the name change.
However, Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, told the Post that ex officio members never voted in the past.
“The bylaws were revised to reflect this longstanding precedent and everyone received the technical changes both before the meeting and after revisions,” Daravi told the outlet. “Some members (including ex officio) attended in person, others by phone, and no concerns were voiced, no one objected, and the bylaws passed unanimously.”
The center’s website lists 34 board members appointed by the president and 23 ex officio members.
The law that established the center in 1964 designates certain government positions as ex officio members, including the mayor of Washington, D.C. and the librarian of Congress. The law names them as members of the board of trustees, which administers the facility, though it doesn’t differentiate between them and voting members.
Current and former members, as well as staffers, told the Post that this has been a source of confusion and debate following the December vote to change the center’s name.
A former center staffer said that ex officio members were “always included in debate and discussion,” but that they didn’t remember a time when these members voted.
“Theoretically they could vote, but our practice was not to have them vote or count toward quorum,” the person noted.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, told the Post that he became an ex officio member earlier this year after he became the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Whitehouse said the law that established the center “makes no distinction between ex officio and presidentially appointed Trustees when it comes to members’ rights and responsibilities on the board, including voting.” He also accused the new board of “illegally” altering the bylaws to “silence dissent.”
Multiple members of the administration who serve as members — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — didn’t respond to requests for comment.
In the days after the name change, Democrats in Congress have moved to reverse the decision.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat, filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C. asking the judge to void the vote, which she said surpassed the board’s statutory authority. Beatty said she was muted when she tried to speak during the December 18 vote.
“Because Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress,” the lawsuit states, adding that “Congress intended the Center to be a living memorial to President Kennedy — and a crown jewel of the arts for all Americans, irrespective of party.”
Last week, Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Maine Democrat, introduced a bill that would strip Trump’s name from the center. The legislation was supported by more than 70 fellow lawmakers.
Additionally, a string of artists booked to perform at the venue have canceled in recent days in protest of Trump’s name being added. Among them are the jazz supergroup The Cookers and The Doug Varone and Dancers troupe.
“All of these shows were booked by the previous regime,” Richard Grenell, an officer of the board tapped by Trump, wrote on X. “Their cancellations only prove our point that the place was booked with radical lefties putting woke politics above the Arts.”
“Democrats ignored the Kennedy Center for decades and it was crumbling,” he added. “Donald Trump saved the Center and has poured millions into the Arts, why don’t you join him?”
