The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC has experienced a ceiling collapse in its grand foyer, an event that, while unsettling, has conveniently provided ammunition for those advocating a $250 million renovation - a plan championed by none other than Donald Trump.

On Friday evening, after heavy rain swept through the area, a portion of the ceiling gave way, prompting officials to temporarily close the Edward Durell Stone-designed building. Miraculously, no one was injured by the debris - a fact that will surely be cited as both a miracle and a warning.

Taking to social media on Saturday, Kennedy Center officials declared the incident 'another warning we can't ignore,' noting that 'a section of the Grand Foyer ceiling collapsed after this week's storms. Thankfully no one was hurt. Decades of deferred maintenance made this inevitable.'

Roma Daravi, the center's vice-president for public relations, echoed this sentiment, framing the collapse as 'another example of the urgent need to close for renovation and revitalization, as our Chairman President Trump has championed.'

The incident comes as the Trump-aligned board pushes to close the center for two years and add Trump's name to the building's facade. The proposed inscription, 'The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J Trump,' is slated for September 8. If private fundraising hits $100 million, an additional inscription reading 'Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund' would be added.

Congress has already approved $257 million for the project, but the administration wants to raise another $500 million through private donations - a task that administration attorneys argue would be nearly impossible without Trump's name emblazoned on the building. Without it, they claim, the structure 'will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down,' potentially making way for a 'large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River.'

This is not the first controversy to swirl around the center. Last month, a federal judge expressed doubts about the board's intentions after a district court blocked the renovations and ordered the removal of Trump's name, which had been added illegally. Undeterred, the board voted to re-inscribe the name.

In related cultural shuffling, a sculpture titled 'Blue' by American post-minimalist Joel Shapiro was removed last week, with the Kennedy Center offering no explanation but expressing gratitude for having been 'stewards' of the work.

Friday's debris shower may indeed bolster the argument for a complete overhaul. Grace Terpstra of Keep the KC, a group opposing the closure, told the Associated Press that the board might seize on the incident 'to make the point that the whole thing needs to be shut down, that it's going to fall on everybody.'

'I think they'll try to make it into a bigger thing and show that they've found a lot of other things,' Terpstra added - as if the falling ceiling weren't already a pretty big thing.