As Kennedy Center Rebrands, It's Mired in Black Tape

[mahatmakanejeeves]

As Kennedy Center Rebrands, It’s Mired in Black Tape

After the institution’s board declared it the Trump Kennedy Center, a lot of signage around the building is in the midst of a makeover.


A sign in an entryway to the parking garage of the Kennedy Center. Since the board voted to change the center’s name to include that of President Trump, black tape has begun to cover up signage that has the old name. Caroline Gutman for The New York Times

By Julia Jacobs
Reporting from Washington

Jan. 16, 2026

Precisely when it began appearing remains a bit unclear. But black tape is showing up in spots across the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. ... In grand halls? Yup. In nondescript parking garage entryways? Yup. ... On visitor maps, artistic posters and various signs, including one pointing the way to the lost and found? Yup, yup and yup.

In places it looks like parts of one of the country’s pre-eminent arts institution have been redacted. ... Visitors began noticing the tape (some of it red, actually) this week and quickly realized what it covers up: the Kennedy Center name and former logo. ... Is this all part of the rebranding that began with a vote of the board last month to change the name to the Trump Kennedy Center? Yup.

“The signage will reflect the bipartisan name that the board designated,” Richard Grenell, the center’s president, said in an email response to questions about the arrival of the tape. He added that “it doesn’t change the congressional directive for the memorial.” ... The latter sentence pushes back on assertions by Democrats that the name change violated an act of Congress that gave the institution its official title in 1964 as a memorial to President Kennedy after his death.

The latest, very temporary alterations to the building’s interior signage are but a coda to the concerto of change that brought large new lettering to the building’s marble facade. It now reads: “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

{snip}


The caution about cups still contains the words “Kennedy Center” but the name on the cup has been covered with black tape. Obtained by The New York Times

{snip}


Some Kennedy Center signage in the garage entryway was covered with tape but there are many places at the building where the old name remains in place. Caroline Gutman for The New York Times

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Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times.

[BeyondGeography]

1. Might as well put black tape over the country's name too

[C_U_L8R]

2. Rebranding is stupid expensive

Something Trump didn’t think or care about. What an ignoramus.

[eShirl]

3. And it's all going to be changed back.

His name will be chiseled and sanded and erased like a disfavored dead pharaoh.