Kennedy Center could close as early as Tuesday, warns of bankruptcy, documents show

Kennedy Center could close as early as Tuesday, warns of bankruptcy, documents show

Leaders of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, installed by President Donald Trump, say the center is on the brink of bankruptcy and argue that putting the president's name on its facade - and thus ensuring his fundraising efforts - may be the only way to avoid imminent and "certain fiscal collapse," according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The bleak assessment is laid out in a 57-page packet distributed to the center's board of trustees ahead of a special meeting Tuesday, when the Trump-led board is scheduled to consider two resolutions aimed at addressing twin crises confronting the national performing arts center: one financial, the other physical. Center officials say they could be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance contracts "within a matter of weeks" and argue that publicly recognizing Trump could secure his help raising enough money to keep the institution afloat.

Center officials are also recommending that the board close its main building immediately, warning that remaining open would endanger lives. Board approval, which seems likely, means the center could close as early as Tuesday.

The presentation makes clear that Trump's support hinges on getting public credit for his involvement. The financial resolution says Trump has offered to "raise the necessary funds to keep the Center from bankruptcy" while the building undergoes a sweeping renovation. But it says Trump is unlikely to provide "fundamental oversight" of that project or lead a financial rescue without "appropriate recognition" of his role.

Together, the two proposals represent a remarkable new phase in Trump's takeover of the Kennedy Center, which has been engulfed by financial turmoil, leadership upheaval and litigation since he installed himself as chairman last year. Trump and his allies have repeatedly portrayed his leadership - and his name - as essential to rescuing the institution, even as ticket sales and fundraising have plummeted under their stewardship.

Trustees are being asked to choose among 10 texts that could be placed on the building's exterior beneath its name, including one reading: "Renovation Restoration and Endowment overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund."

Lawyers for Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), a Kennedy Center trustee who has sued to keep Trump's name off the building, blasted the new proposal.

"This constant effort to add Donald Trump's name to the Kennedy Center facade is the definition of insanity," lawyers Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky said in a statement. "This is now the third attempt to deface this sacred memorial and turn it into a vanity project for one man's ego.

"Worse still, now Trump is taking the Center hostage and threatening to in effect kill it unless he gets his way," they added. "This has to stop."

The proposal comes less than a month after the board approved a similar plan to inscribe "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump" on the facade. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled in May that only Congress can rename the Kennedy Center and ordered Trump's name removed, is considering a legal challenge to that proposal.

The center's stark new financial assessment is also a dramatic departure from the turnaround its leaders touted publicly for much of Trump's tenure.

Internal budgets and forecasts obtained by The Washington Post earlier this year showed ticket sales and fundraising plunging after the board added Trump's name to the building in December. By May, officials projected the center would collect about $124 million of the $220 million in revenue it had budgeted for the fiscal year, leaving a roughly $23 million deficit even after substantial spending cuts. A center spokesperson blamed the problems on financial mismanagement by previous leadership and said Trump's name had attracted new donors.

The second resolution before trustees Tuesday would address what management describes as an increasingly urgent threat from the deteriorating building itself.

Executive Director Matt Floca, who was installed by Trump in March, told trustees that during a severe storm Sept. 4, a roughly four-by-five-foot section of ceiling plaster broke loose in the Grand Foyer and fell about 60 feet, scattering debris near the Concert Hall entrance. No one was injured. Inspectors found at least seven other locations with visible water-related deterioration, according to the board packet.

Separately, engineers examining the outside of the building found widespread corrosion in structural components of the soffit panels that form the underside of an overhang wrapping around the center, Floca said in a two-page memo to trustees. Of roughly half of the building's 278 panels examined, 46 had severe structural corrosion and another 93 had mild-to-moderate corrosion, he said, adding that engineers projected that about one-third require immediate replacement. The report says 2,500-pound ceiling assemblies hang roughly 60 feet above public walkways.

A draft resolution says Floca and Delta Consulting Group, which has reviewed the center's renovation plans, determined that the building is "unsafe for continued occupancy" and that delaying renovations would pose further danger to employees and the public.

Kennedy Center representatives declined to comment on the proposals, but sent a previous statement from spokeswoman Roma Daravi, "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."

Trump first proposed closing the Kennedy Center for two years in February, saying an empty building would allow crews to renovate it more quickly. His board approved the plan in March, but Cooper blocked the closure in May, finding trustees had relied on insufficient information and had not adequately weighed the consequences. He allowed the board to reconsider after a more thorough review.

Trustees did so Aug. 13, again approving a two-year shutdown as part of a roughly $250 million renovation.

Tuesday's resolution would go considerably further by ordering the main building closed immediately. Management says repairs cannot safely be performed around audiences and employees because structural work, electrical shutdowns and construction would affect interconnected systems and public areas throughout the building.

The Reach, the center's newer expansion, would remain open, while performances and other programming would continue at other venues.