Kennedy Center faces ‘fiscal collapse’ unless Trump’s name returns, board of trustees claims

By Sunlen Serfaty, Hanna Park, CNN

(CNN) — Officials at the Kennedy Center have warned it could face “certain fiscal collapse” within weeks unless President Donald Trump’s name is added back to the building, according to documents included in a court filing.

The documents – two draft resolutions concerning proposals to close the Kennedy Center and re-add President Donald Trump’s name outside the arts venue – are expected to be voted upon by the institution’s board of trustees at a meeting on Tuesday.

The center could be unable to make payroll and routine maintenance contracts in weeks, they said.

The documents were originally obtained and reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

“While actively considering alternative means of fiscal survival, President Trump has offered to step in and raise the necessary funds to keep the Center from bankruptcy during its much needed renovation,” one resolution said.

However, if the president’s name is not on the building he won’t be able to “lead the fiscal rescue of the Center,” it goes on.

The draft resolutions were presented in a filing on Monday for an ongoing lawsuit that blocked the board from adding Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center. There is a status conference in the case scheduled for Tuesday morning.

A Kennedy Center spokesperson said the board of trustees had inherited financial mismanagement from former leadership. The spokesperson added that putting Trump’s name on the building had attracted new donors.

The documents mark the latest turn in Trump’s takeover of the national arts institution, which has been mired in financial turmoil, leadership churn and litigation since he installed loyalists to the board, who then elected him chairman last year. The change led to artists pulling out of planned events at the venue and a drop in ticket sales.

Since then, Trump has sought to put his stamp on the institution, adding his name to the building’s exterior in December, prompting the lawsuit challenging the legality of the change and a ruling from a judge that his name must be removed. The lettering was taken down in June.

In August, the center voted once again to add Trump’s name on the building and close for a yearslong renovation, court filings show. The board later told a federal judge it would not attempt to add Trump’s name to the building or grounds until October 8 at the earliest, a one-month delay from previous plans.

Adding to the financial turmoil, the center previously argued in court filings it would have to return millions of dollars in private donations it had already received if Trump’s name wasn’t on the building’s facade, citing the center’s bylaws.

“All of this money, hundreds of millions of dollars, will have to be immediately returned, or not received by the Center,” the Department of Justice told an appeals court.

One of the draft resolutions includes about 10 different ways Trump’s name could once again be inscribed on the building. They include options such as, “Renovation and endowment overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund” or “With Gratitude for Support from President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”

Trustees are also being asked to close the center’s main building immediately, a source said, citing a September 4 incident in which a section of ceiling plaster fell.

No one was hurt, but the administration has used it to bolster its argument in court in favor of renovations.

Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, said in a statement that the September incident was “another example of the urgent need to close for renovation and revitalization, as our Chairman President Trump has championed.”

“Fortunately, no one was injured when the main hall’s ceiling collapsed. This structural failure stems from decades of neglect and deferred maintenance by the previous leadership, and there’s no justification for further delays in restoring America’s cultural center,” Daravi said.

Lawyers for the venue have argued that if the current building cannot undergo extensive renovations, the center “will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down.”

In April, Kennedy Center officials gave CNN and other news outlets a behind-the-scenes tour of the building, showing the boiler room, behind the stages, and the HVAC system to provide evidence of the need for the renovations.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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CNN’s Devan Cole, Tierney Sneed and Michael Williams contributed reporting.