Senior officials announced their resignations after the Trump administration withdrew grants from arts organizations around the country.
A group of senior officials at the National Endowment for the Arts announced their resignations on Monday, days after the Trump administration began withdrawing grants from arts groups across the nation.
Their departures, which come as the endowment has been withdrawing current grant offers and President Trump has proposed eliminating the agency altogether next year, became public on Monday in a series of emails and social media posts.
An N.E.A. spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
Among those leaving the agency are directors overseeing grants for dance, design, folk and traditional arts, and theater, as well as the director of the “partnership” division, which oversees work with state and local arts agencies. Those officials announced their departures in newsletters sent out by the endowment starting at midday on Monday.
The head of the agency’s literary arts division is also leaving, along with three members of her team, according to a newsletter sent on Monday morning by LitNet, a coalition of literary organizations.
The announcement of their departures left the besieged agency facing even more uncertainty. It is not clear how or whether the agency would issue grants without this tier of officials. A round of grant cancellation notifications that went out Friday night indicated that the agency expected to continue making grants, but in areas prioritized by Mr. Trump.
Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater in New York and one of the leaders of the Professional Non-Profit Theater Coalition, said the staff resignations were “worrisome.” He added that while he did not criticize anyone for leaving, he feared the departures could make it easier to eliminate the agency.