2026-10-01T16:00:29.147Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
过去一年的大部分时间里，这座标志性艺术机构的管理者们一直拉响了财务警报。
据CNN获取的覆盖2024财年至今年的肯尼迪艺术中心财务记录及内部演示材料显示，有警告指出，在唐纳德·特朗普总统担任主席期间，该中心的财务状况出现恶化。
一份文件披露，2025年12月肯尼迪艺术中心董事会投票决定将特朗普的名字加入建筑名称后，从1月至4月，该艺术机构的捐款金额骤降42%，捐款承诺较此前三个月暴跌超100%。一名税务专家告诉CNN，如果此前的承诺捐款被撤回，出现如此规模的下滑是有可能的。
文件显示，新冠疫情之后，该中心面临的财务压力影响了整个表演艺术行业；而在特朗普接手后，局势进一步恶化。
在2025年5月一份总结该中心现状的幻灯片中，第一条 bullet 点就承认其“现金耗尽”。2026年一份展示当前状况的后续幻灯片显示，第二季度门票销量已跌至“疫情时期水平”，且“2025年新董事会宣布后，下滑速度加快”。
该机构的财务健康状况预计将进一步恶化。初步数据显示，2025财年赤字超过1600万美元，预计2026年将增至2300万美元。
综合来看，这些文件更全面地展现了肯尼迪艺术中心的财务和实体状况。它们大体上驳斥了支持特朗普的董事会的论点，即该机构需要特朗普的帮助，并必须以总统的名义重新命名场馆，以筹集急需的翻新资金。
“我接手时，肯尼迪艺术中心已经亏损数亿美元。它当时处境糟糕！这和我无关，我只是来帮忙的，”特朗普在9月中旬的真相社交（Truth Social）上写道。
但其中一份2025财年财务表现评估文件指出，特朗普担任主席后，肯尼迪艺术中心评估了其延期维护需求，而这些维护更新的资金被纳入了《一项宏伟法案》（One Big Beautiful Bill）——去年国会通过的全面拨款法案。
文件称，该法案的“拨款为中心的关键基础设施提供了重大资本投资”。“这笔投资为中心提供了全面翻新和现代化改造主楼的独特机遇。”
肯尼迪艺术中心的一名发言人告诉CNN，该中心“仍在应对新冠疫情后整个表演艺术行业出现的观众行为变化，以及门票销售情况”，这些变化已反映在其预算中。特朗普帮助该中心从国会和捐赠者处获得了资金，但仍需额外筹款以支付薪资和节目制作等其他成本，该发言人表示。
“中心仍致力于恢复和振兴这座标志性机构——同时继续提供免费且可参与的节目——让观众们能够世代享受，”他们补充道。
在给CNN的一份声明中，白宫指责民主党“任由水损和破败的基础设施将一件国家宝藏变成一栋腐朽的建筑”，并重申称，如果没有特朗普的干预，该中心“将持续衰落”。
CNN获取的文件包括财务评估、资产负债表和规划文件，这些内容真实展现了肯尼迪艺术中心的内部运作情况。
它们是一份举报人投诉所附的一批文件的一部分，该投诉声称特朗普政府故意扣留维修资金，以证明其计划关闭场馆进行两年翻新——甚至拆除建筑的合理性。
文件显示，新冠疫情之后，该中心遭遇了全行业的观众人数下滑，且在过去几年中持续走低。
特朗普接手后，这一下滑趋势加速。今年早些时候的一份财务回顾演示材料中的折线图显示，在特朗普2025年2月任命新董事会，且中心更名加入特朗普名字后，门票销售的下降趋势加剧。
特朗普在替换董事会后不久当选主席。在任期间，他任命了长期亲信里克·格伦奈尔（Ric Grenell）担任执行董事，后者试图对该机构的节目进行改革。
特朗普主导的变革引发了多项活动取消，其中最引人注目的是百老汇剧目《汉密尔顿》。
此前有消息人士告诉CNN，肯尼迪艺术中心的上座率极低，以至于连续数月不得不“填满空座”——这一剧院术语指通过免费或打折售票来填满座位。
根据CNN审查的一份文件，2024财年4月至2025财年4月期间，门票销售额从5700万美元降至预计的5100万美元。
记录显示，在上一财年，肯尼迪艺术中心还未能实现筹款目标。
该中心审计和财务委员会提交的关键初步调查结果之一显示，2025财年（2024年10月至2025年9月）的筹款业绩比目标低约510万美元。
部分财务表现不佳的情况似乎被影响场馆多个部门的成本削减措施所抵消。记录中的一份更新内容提到了人员成本削减、裁员和运营费用缩减。
随着一场激烈的法律诉讼持续进行，肯尼迪艺术中心的未来仍悬而未决。
上月董事会投票决定紧急维修并关闭主楼后，该建筑目前已对公众关闭。
尽管联邦法院已下令肯尼迪艺术中心设法在翻新期间保持开放，但该机构领导层表示，需要时间来评估这座日益破败的建筑中的安全风险。该法官也驳回了特朗普将自己名字刻在建筑上的请求。
针对这一法律挫折，特朗普加大了拆除该建筑的威胁力度。
今年9月，有人看到特朗普在空军一号的窗户旁举着一张海报，上面似乎写着“肯尼迪艺术中心 拆除”，而政府律师辩称，只有将他的名字与建筑绑定，才能筹集到足够的捐款挽救该中心。
“董事会认识到，特朗普总统的努力和声望是该中心财务生存和结构更新的唯一希望，”司法部在一份法庭文件中辩称，并补充道：“董事会还强调，且无可辩驳的证据表明，如果没有特朗普政府的显著认可和特朗普总统的努力，捐赠者将不会捐款，该中心将继续陷入财务和结构上的死亡螺旋。”
法官克里斯托弗·库珀（Christopher Cooper）已下令政府在拆除或进行新建筑施工前至少提前30天发出通知。他还要求肯尼迪艺术中心就其声称所需的临时关闭和紧急维修提供更多解释。
在周四接受《时代》杂志采访时，特朗普多次拒绝排除拆除肯尼迪艺术中心的可能性。
当被问及是否会承诺不使用拆迁球拆除该建筑时，他表示：“我不会做出任何承诺。我们将看看法庭上会如何发展。”
在最近提交给法庭的文件中，执行董事马特·弗洛卡（Matt Floca）表示，将每周对关闭情况进行重新评估。周三晚间晚些时候，弗洛卡向剩余的一小部分员工发送了一封电子邮件，指出在团队评估建筑状况后，大楼“仍处于临时关闭状态”。
在CNN获取的这封邮件中，工程师们“记录了拱腹（外部悬挑结构）周围存在严重腐蚀”。
“我们的设施、安全和安保团队目前正在进行详细的紧急出口评估，以确定该建筑是否能够安全容纳人员，以及在何种条件下可以，”他说，并补充道，预计“在未来1至2周内”就此事发布更新。
法庭定于本周五听取进度更新。
CNN的约翰·托夫菲吉（John Towfighi）对此报道亦有贡献。
本文已补充信息更新。
Donation pledges to Kennedy Center fell by more than 100% in months after Trump’s name added, internal documents show
2026-10-01T16:00:29.147Z / CNN
For much of the past year, the financial alarm bells at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts have been going off among the stewards of the iconic art institution.
There were warnings that its accounts had deteriorated under President Donald Trump’s chairmanship, according to records and internal presentations obtained by CNN that cover Kennedy Center finances from fiscal year 2024 through this year.
After the Kennedy Center board voted to place Trump’s name on the building in December 2025, gifts to the arts institution plunged 42% and donation pledges dropped more than 100% from January to April compared to the three months prior, one document revealed. A tax expert told CNN that a decline of that size is possible if earlier pledges were withdrawn.
The documents show that the center had faced financial pressures that affected much of the performing arts industry in the wake of the Covid pandemic; the situation worsened after the president got involved.
In a slide summarizing the state of the center in May 2025, the first bullet point acknowledged that it was “out of cash.”A subsequent slide on where things stood in 2026 revealed that ticket sales had dropped to “pandemic levels” in the second quarter, and that the “decline accelerate[d] in 2025 when the new board [was] announced.”
The institution’s financial health is expected to deteriorate further. Preliminary numbers show a deficit of over $16 million for fiscal year 2025, which is projected to grow to $23 million in 2026.
Taken together, the documents paint a fuller picture of the Kennedy Center’s financial and physical position. They broadly refute the Trump-aligned board’s argument that the institution needs Trump’s help and must rename its grounds in the president’s honor to raise funds for direly needed renovations.
“The Kennedy Center was losing Hundreds of Millions of Dollars when I took over. It was failing badly! It had nothing to do with me, I am only there to help,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in mid-September.
But one document, a financial performance review for the 2025 fiscal year, noted that the Kennedy Center had assessed its deferred maintenance needs after Trump took over as chairman, and that funds for those maintenance updates were included in the One Big Beautiful Bill, the sweeping funding law passed by Congress last year.
The legislation’s “funding supports a major capital investment in the Center’s critical infrastructure,” the document said. “This investment provides the Center with a unique opportunity to comprehensively renovate and modernize the main building.”
A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center told CNN that it “continues to work through post-pandemic shifts in audience behavior seen across the performing arts industry, and ticket sales” and the changes are reflected in its budget. Trump helped it secure funding from Congress and through donations but additional fundraising is needed for other costs, such as payroll and programming, the person said.
“The Center remains focused on restoring and revitalizing this iconic institution — while continuing to offer free and accessible programming — for audiences to enjoy for generations to come,” they added.
In a statement to CNN, the White House blamed Democrats for “allowing water damage and crumbling infrastructure to turn a national treasure into a building in decay,” and reiterate the assertion that without Trump’s intervention it will “continue to decline.”
The documents obtained by CNN included financial assessments, balance sheets and planning papers that give an unvarnished look at the Kennedy Center’s inner workings.
They are part of a tranche of papers underlying a whistleblower complaint asserting that the Trump administration has purposefully withheld repairs to justify its plans to close for two years of renovations – or even demolish the building.
They show that in the wake of the Covid pandemic, the center was hit by an industry-wide decline in attendance that continued to trend downward over the last several years.
That accelerated after the Trump takeover. A line chart in a financial review presentation from earlier this year shows the downtrend in sales intensifying after Trump selected a new board in February 2025 and after the center’s name was changed to include Trump.
Trump was elected chairman shortly after he replaced the board. In that position, he installed a longtime loyalist, Ric Grenell, as executive director, who sought to revamp the programming at the institution.
The Trump-led changes prompted several cancellations, including most notably the Broadway show “Hamilton.”
Sources previously told CNN that attendance at the Kennedy Center had been so low that for months, it had to “paper the house” — a theater term that means to fill seats by offering free or discounted tickets.
Between April of fiscal year 2024 to 2025, ticket sales declined from $57 million to a projected $51 million, according to one document reviewed by CNN.
The Kennedy Center also struggled to meet its fundraising targets during the last fiscal year, according to the records.
Among the key preliminary findings presented by the center’s audit and finance committee is that fundraising performance fell “below target” by about $5.1 million in fiscal year 2025, the period between October 2024 and September 2025.
Some of the financial underperformance appears to have been offset by cost-cutting efforts affecting multiple parts of the venue. One of the updates included in the records cites personnel cost cuts, reduced headcount, and cuts to operational expenses.
The future of the Kennedy Center remains in limbo as an intense legal battle continues.
The main building is currently closed to the public following a board vote last month to shut its doors for emergency repairs.
While a federal court has ordered the Kennedy Center to find a way to remain open during renovations, the institution leadership says it needs time to assess safety risks in the deteriorating building. That judge has also rebuffed Trump’s efforts to put his own name on the building.
Trump has only ratcheted up his threats to tear down the building in response to the legal setbacks.
In September, he was seen with a poster through the window of Air Force One that appeared to read “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED,” and government lawyers have argued that only by attaching his name to the building can enough donations be collected to save it.
“The Board recognizes that President Trump’s efforts and prestige provide the sole hope for the Center’s financial survival, and structural renewal,” the Justice department argued in a court filing, adding: “The Board also underscores, and the undisputed evidence demonstrates, that without the prominent recognition of The Trump Administration, and President Trump’s efforts, the donors will not contribute, and the Center will continue to be in a financial and structural death spiral.”
Judge Christopher Cooper has ordered the administration give at least 30 days’ notice before demolition or new construction can take place. He also demanded more explanation about the temporary closure and emergency repairs the Kennedy Center says are needed.
In an interview with TIME Magazine on Thursday, Trump repeatedly declined to rule out demolition of the Kennedy Center.
Pressed on whether he would commit to not bringing in wrecking balls to demolish the building, he said: “I’m not committing to anything. We’re going to see how it plays out in court.”
In their most recent filing to court, the executive director, Matt Floca, indicated that the closure would be reevaluated on a weekly basis. Late Wednesday evening, Floca, sent the small group of remaining staff an email noting that the building itself “remains temporarily closed” after teams have assessed its conditions.
In the email obtained by CNN, engineers “documented significant corrosion” around the soffits, an exterior overhang structure.
“Our facilities, safety, and security teams are now conducting a detailed emergency egress assessment to determine whether, and under what conditions, the building can safely support occupants,” he said, adding that an update on the matter is expected “within the next one to two weeks.”
The court is scheduled to get a status update this Friday.
CNN’s John Towfighi contributed.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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