U.S. President Donald Trump poses on the red carpet for the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 7, 2025.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, will be renamed the “Trump-Kennedy Center,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.
The prestigious Washington, D.C., cultural center’s board of trustees, who were appointed by President Donald Trump in February, “have just voted unanimously” on the name change, Leavitt said in an X post.
They did so “because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building,” Leavitt said.
“Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur,” she said.
Trump, who named himself chairman of the Kennedy Center weeks after taking office, signaled in October that the name change was forthcoming.
In a Truth Social post, Trump shared pictures of a newly painted colonnade on the outside of the building below a caption praising “the new TRUMP KENNEDY, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, columns.”
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
