The National Endowment for the Arts announced last month new guidelines and the elimination of Challenge America, a grant program that supports underserved groups and communities — moves that falls in line with President Donald Trump’s plan to reshape federal arts policy.

Now, Baltimore Center Stage, Maryland’s state theater, says it will refuse to comply with the NEA’s new guidelines — which state that applicants “will not operate any programs promoting ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’” or “gender ideology” — at the cost of its own potential federal funding in the future.

Under the new guidelines, the NEA is encouraging applicants to create projects that honor the upcoming 250th anniversary of the country’s adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

“As long as the guidelines impose the requirements as we understand them, we are committed to not accept federal funding,” Center Stage Managing Director Adam Frank said Wednesday afternoon. Recent productions there, such as “Mexodus” and “The Hot Wing King,” may have not been possible under those policies.

The theater typically receives an annual NEA grant worth approximately $30,000, “which is not easy to replace,” Frank said. But, he added, compliance with their guidelines is the antithesis of Center Stage’s mission.

“We wouldn’t be representing Baltimore and the state of Maryland the way that we need to,” Frank said. “So it’s not really a question for us. It’s one of those things that we’ll take a hit in funding if we have to because, if we complied, we wouldn’t be who we are.”

Center Stage’s strong 2024/2025 attendance numbers — up more than 40% from last season, according to Frank — indicate that theatergoers support Center Stage’s commitment to produce inclusive plays, he said.

But he worries the NEA’s new guidelines represent a larger threat to the viability of Center Stage and other like-minded arts institutions, particularly when many are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. They send a chilling message to organizations who are committed to “democratic, pluralist values,” he said.

In January, days before Trump was sworn in, the NEA announced it would award 272 Challenge America grants worth roughly $2.7 million, including an award to the Maryland Youth Ballet in Silver Spring “to support dance classes for children with physical and developmental disabilities.” The program’s recent elimination applies to the 2026 fiscal year.

Center Stage’s 2025 schedule will proceed as planned, Frank said. “Everything That Never Happened,” which reimagines Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” from a Jewish perspective, runs through Sunday, while “Akeelah and the Bee,” featuring cast members from Baltimore School for the Arts, begins March 20. “John Wilkes Booth: One Night Only!,” written by “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner and directed by Center Stage Artistic Director Stevie Walker-Webb, follows in May.

During Tuesday’s State of the Union address, Trump touted his recent executive orders against DEI programs.

“We’ve ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government. And indeed the private sector and our military. And our country will be woke no longer,” Trump said.

Less than 24 hours later, Frank and Walker-Webb sent an email to Center Stage supporters that affirms its position on NEA funding and outlines how they can support the theater — including writing elected officials in opposition of the new guidelines, donating to Center Stage and buying tickets to upcoming shows.

Frank said Center Stage feels the need to be more proactive in communicating its stance to supporters, “given the rhetoric continues to rise in Washington.”

On Wednesday, “Hamilton” producer Jeffrey Seller canceled next year’s run of the hit musical at Washington’s Kennedy Center due to recent “partisan policies” at the cultural center. Trump was elected the Kennedy Center’s chairman last month by its newly constituted board.

In Frank’s office is a framed advertisement in support of the NEA from decades ago, a gift from a mentor. He has been staring at it a lot lately — a timely reminder of what’s at stake in these changing times.

“It feels like a call to action to me, to say the arts are important,” Frank said. “In fact, in times like this, the stories that artists tell are the ways that we can imagine a better future.”