Multiple artists have canceled upcoming Kennedy Center performances following the institution’s decision to rename itself the “Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” An exclusive Washington Post report found that the center quietly adopted revised bylaws in May 2025, months before the renaming vote.
Under the new rules, Congress-designated board members, known as ex officio members, may not vote or count toward a quorum, leaving decision-making power solely with presidentially appointed trustees. The revision came just three months after Trump purged several board members in February.
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Backlash and legal questions have followed changes to the center, which was originally established by Congress to honor John F. Kennedy.
Amid this controversy, Roma Daravi, the center’s vice president of public relations, told the Post that ex officio members have never voted.
“The bylaws were revised to reflect this longstanding precedent and everyone received the technical changes both before the meeting and after revisions,” Daravi wrote in an email. “Some members (including ex officio) attended in person, others by phone, and no concerns were voiced, no one objected, and the bylaws passed unanimously.”
Federal law designates several government officials — including the Librarian of Congress, the D.C. mayor, and certain senators — as ex officio trustees. The statute identifies them as members of the board but does not distinguish voting powers.
Currently, the board includes 23 ex officio seats and 34 presidentially appointed members, including Trump as chair and Richard Grenell as an officer. While voting authority was never explicitly defined before the revision, the center’s most recent tax filings list 59 voting members — a total encompassing both general and ex officio members.
