Trump-Led Board Votes to Close Kennedy Center Again

The Trump-led board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has voted to move forward with a new plan to shutter its main building for renovations, according to the New York Times.

Under the plan, the Kennedy Center’s main building will be closed while a newer extension called The Reach will remain open for limited programming and operate as an active memorial to John F. Kennedy.

The decision follows an “independent and objective analysis” of possible options by an outside consulting firm, which determined that keeping the main building open during renovations would be significantly more expensive.

The board’s resolution states that it is “fully committed” to continuing arts and educational programming during the closure and maintaining the “historic and architecturally significant nature of the center’s main building.”

Representatives for the Kennedy Center did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.

The new plan is subject to approval from a federal judge who temporarily blocked the board’s previous plan to shutter the entire Kennedy Center’s for a two-year renovation, ruling that the original vote was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained.”

At the time, the judge said that the Trump-led board was “derelict” and based its decision on an “insufficient, one-sided presentation of information.” It also “neglected to consider the full range of its statutory obligations and potential adverse consequences of closure on programming and memorial functions.”

After Trump lashed out at the judge’s decision, officials at the Kennedy Center appealed the ruling and subsequently scheduled a meeting to vote on the new plan on Thursday morning.

More to come…