Kennedy Center Amended Bylaws to Limit Votes to Trump-Appointed Board Members

Earlier this year, the Kennedy Center amended its bylaws to limit voting to board members appointed by President Trump, ultimately leading to the renaming of the historic performing arts center.

The Washington Post has reported that new rules were adopted in May, which make votes from ex officio members—that is, board members appointed by Congress—ineligible to count towards a quorum. As a result, the outcome of a vote would reflect those made only by board members appointed by the President. 

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, the board overseeing Washington’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted on December 18 to rename the venue the Trump-Kennedy Center. Trump, who serves as chairman of the board and has frequently referred to the institution as the “Trump Kennedy Center," has said the decision to rename the venue would rest with the board. 

The Post indicates that previous versions of the Kennedy Center bylaws didn't officially count the votes of ex officio members, though they were “always included in debate and discussion," a former Kennedy Center staffer said. “The bylaws were revised to reflect this longstanding precedent and everyone received the technical changes both before the meeting and after revisions," Roma Daravi, the center’s vice president of public relations, told the Post.

Other changes made to the bylaws in May include the statement that general trustees “serve at the pleasure of the President," and new language indicating that the President can function as the chief executive officer of the Center and "be compensated commensurate to the position."

There currently sit 34 presidentially-appointed Kennedy Center Board members (including Trump as the chair), with 23 ex officio seats, including those from the librarian of Congress, the mayor of Washington, D.C., the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, per federal law.

This news comes amid the recent Kennedy Center Honors ceremony, which aired on December 23 and recorded its smallest television audience to date. The Donald Trump-hosted broadcast averaged an estimated 3.01 million viewers, a 26% drop from the 4.1 million viewers reported in 2024. 

Additionally, several performance cancellations have occurred following the renaming decision, including those from dance company Doug Varone and Dancers and the Kennedy Center’s annual Christmas Eve jazz concert. The American College Theatre Festival (ACTF) has also suspended its affiliation with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after nearly six decades of partnership.

Since the President took charge of the venue in February, ticket sales at the Kennedy Center have declined significantly in the subsequent months. According to ticketing and spending data cited by The Washington Post, attendance for major productions between early September and mid-October fell to its lowest level since the pandemic. During that six-week period, approximately 43 percent of seats in the Opera House, Concert Hall, and Eisenhower Theater went unsold, meaning only about 57 percent of available tickets were sold or distributed as complimentary. In comparison, those venues saw 93 percent of seats filled or comped in fall 2024, 80 percent in 2023, and 94 percent in 2022.