Kennedy Center ceiling collapse renews renovation dispute

A chunk of ceiling fell inside the Kennedy Center’s grand foyer after stormy weather swept through Washington, sharpening a court fight over President Donald Trump’s effort to renovate the historic arts venue and put his name on its facade.

No one was injured when debris fell Friday evening in the hallway linking the center’s three main performance auditoriums, Kennedy Center officials said. Photos provided by the center showed a large hole in the high ceiling and debris scattered across the red carpet. The Guardian reported that officials temporarily closed the Edward Durell Stone-designed building after the collapse.

Kennedy Center officials quickly cited the incident as evidence that the building needs urgent work. “Another warning we can’t ignore,” the center said in an online post Saturday. “A section of the Grand Foyer ceiling collapsed after this week’s storms. Thankfully no one was hurt. Decades of deferred maintenance made this inevitable.”

Roma Daravi, the center’s vice president for public relations, said the damage underscored the case for a two-year closure and $250 million renovation plan backed by Trump.

“The reality is, the place is falling apart and @realDonaldTrump wants to fix it,” Daravi wrote on social media. In another post, she said, “There is no legitimate reason to further halt the renovations. The longer the delay, the worse the infrastructure gets.”

Daravi also said in a statement to The Associated Press that the partial collapse was “another example of the urgent need to close for renovation and revitalization, as our Chairman President Trump has championed.” She said the “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.”

The collapse comes as the Kennedy Center’s Trump-aligned board is fighting in court to move ahead with plans to add Trump’s name to the building’s facade and close the venue for renovations. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in May that Trump’s name had been added illegally and ordered it removed. He also blocked the administration from closing the venue for the renovation project.

The board later voted to return Trump’s name to the facade with the inscription: “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” The Guardian reported that the board voted for the inscription to be added by Sept. 8. If a renovation fund reaches $100 million, another inscription would read: “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”

Congress has approved $257 million for the project, and the Trump administration wants to raise an additional $500 million through private donations, The Guardian reported. Justice Department lawyers have argued that donations will dry up without Trump’s name on the building. According to The Guardian, administration attorneys also argued that without Trump-backed funding, the building “will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure” that could have to be taken down, with a decision later on what to build there, including a possible outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River.

The Kennedy Center is one of several Washington projects Trump has pursued in his second term. CBS News reported that he has demolished the White House East Wing to make way for a ballroom, plans a triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery and has a renovated golf course along the Potomac River in the works. Those projects have drawn pushback from Democrats and preservation groups, including a veterans group lawsuit over the arch.

Other changes at the Kennedy Center have already occurred. Last week, the center removed Blue, a large stick figure sculpture by the late artist Joel Shapiro that had stood outside since 2019. The center gave no reason for its removal but said, “we are honored to have been stewards” of the work.

Grace Terpstra, founder of Keep the KC, a community group opposing the center’s closure, said she expects the board to use the ceiling damage to argue for a full shutdown.

“I think they’ll try to make it into a bigger thing and show that they’ve found a lot of other things,” Terpstra said.