Talk:Kennedy Center

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This article has previously been nominated to be moved. Please review prior discussions if you are considering renomination.

Discussions

WP:BOLD moved, 18 December 2025, from John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to Kennedy Center, see discussion.
Not moved, 18 December 2025, from Kennedy Center, see discussion.
Speedy closed, 26 December 2025, from Kennedy Center to Trump Kennedy Center, see discussion.

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This article has been mentioned by a media organization:

Nover, Scott (12 December 2025). "Trump renames the Kennedy Center, but will everyone else follow?". The Washington Post. The decisions to change names aren't solely up to news organizations. Across the internet, a tale of two names still reigns. Wikipedia's volunteer editor corps has publicly discussed whether to change the Kennedy Center's name but has so far kept the old one. In a discussion forum for the page, editors broadly favored keeping 'Kennedy Center' as the article's title, citing the online encyclopedia's policy to use 'commonly recognizable names,' as only Congress can officially change the name. Wikipedia still titles an entry 'United States Department of Defense,' but notes in the first line of its article that 'Department of War' is an alternate name. It still has entries named 'United States Institute of Peace' and 'Gulf of Mexico.'

The following reference(s) may be useful when improving this article in the future:

The Washington Post: Inside the Kennedy Center's scorched-earth Washington National Opera split

Image

Latest comment: 1 month ago9 comments3 people in discussion

(courtesy tagging @Mikewem) I recently changed the lead image to a more recent image shot from Georgetown and showing the new white columns, which was reverted for a the new image having an inaccurate filename and apparent recentism. The filename is totally irrelevant to the fact that the image is of the Kennedy Center---no reader is going into the source text and getting confused by the filename.

But regarding recentism, using the current image (shot before 2006) is flat-out misleading due to Reach not being shown, doubly so because there is not an image of Reach in the entire article. Reach was added seven years ago, and permanently changed the view which is shown in the lead image. Using an image shot from Georgetown sidesteps this issue, since that view has not substantially changed since the KC's construction. And the white columns aren't exactly breaking news either, they were painted last October and we can assume that they'll stay that way until at least 2028. Theodore Christopher (talk) 18:50, 2 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

It’s not just the source text, it’s the file page. Any reader who clicks on the image will be brought here where I would wager they may become confused. Or maybe they will not be confused. It’s possible readers want a picture of the Kennedy Center to be labeled Lincoln Center. It’s also possible that readers do not want pictures of the Kennedy Center to be labeled Lincoln Center.

Either way, WP:FILENAMES says file names should be descriptive of the image so that’s pretty much the end of discussion. Mikewem (talk) 19:27, 2 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

Perhaps the file can simply be renamed on Commons then? Funcrunch (talk) 22:31, 2 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

Of course it can. WP:FNC#5. Though, I personally would still support the older shot as a superior depiction of its subject. Mikewem (talk) 07:17, 3 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

OK, I renamed it. Funcrunch (talk) 21:45, 3 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

Why is it superior? Image quality is not irrelevant, don't get me wrong, but the picture is at least seven years outdated. The addition of Reach markedly changed the southern view of the KC, so using Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., LCCN2011632175 (cropped).jpg as an accurate contemporary representation misleads readers. Theodore Christopher (talk) 23:43, 3 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

I am not compelled to replace a very good picture that does not depict the Reach with a lesser quality picture that also does not depict the Reach. Mikewem (talk) 20:47, 4 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

You clearly aren't. Also, since the north and south plazas were markedly expanded in 2005, the picture is more like 20 years out of date. It's like using a flattering picture of an actor when he was 20 instead of a less pretty picture of a 40something, just because he looked nicer. Theodore Christopher (talk) 12:54, 6 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

FILENAMES does not say that inappropriately named files can not be used on Wikipedia in any circumstance. It simply cautions editors to name files appropriately. Theodore Christopher (talk) 01:21, 3 July 2026 (UTC)Reply