The annual Theatre Festival, dedicated to displaying the works of playwrights in countries that criminalize or censor the LGBTQ community, has turned to online fundraising after the National Arts Foundation revoked grants for the New York Festival.

Last December, an independent federal agency awarded a $20,000 grant from the National Queer Theatre, a nonprofit theater company based in Brooklyn, for the 2025 Crime Queer Festival. Jess Ducey, co-chair of the company's board, said it was the third year the company received a NEA grant, accounting for 20% of the festival's total budget.

The NEA began withdrawing art funds for many organizations, including the National Queer Theatre, on Friday. That day, the agency told the theater in an email that it was "updating its grant policy priorities to focus funds on projects that reflect the national artistic heritage and creativity that are prioritized by the president of the United States," a copy of the email shared with NBC News.

"We are therefore ending awards beyond these new priorities," the email continued. "The NEA will now prioritize projects to enhance the country's HBCU and Hispanic Services, celebrate the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States, promote AI capabilities, empower the Chapel to serve the community, help disaster recovery, raise skilled trade work, promote trade work in the United States, make the United States healthy, keep our military community developing, keep the community developing and the Colombian community well, and establish the Cosmos Islands in the Colombian community and gain the Colombian community and beautiful communities.

Crime Queer Festival said, “It doesn’t match these priorities.”

NEA did not immediately return a request for comment. The agency is currently experiencing wider turmoil, with several of its senior leaders resigning this week President Donald Trump released a proposed budget Friday that would eliminate his funding, according to the Washington Post.

"It's a devastating and frustrating because we're a small organization," said Duchey, who uses their/their pronoun. "This grant is definitely indispensable for funding."

Dusi said the festival, which was scheduled for June 11-28, has hired a production manager and started performing and arranging rehearsals for the three competitions he will participate in, which are located in Uganda, Indonesia and Cuba. They said. If the company cannot make up for the funding, it may have to reduce the scene design of the show and delay payment and/or borrow for programs such as Staging Pride, its free after-school theatre program for LGBTQ youth.

Ducey organized a GoFundMe fundraiser to try to make up for the grant.

“A lot of our time and attention are now scrambling to get that money instead of preparing these shows and doing all the outreach activities we are going to do,” they said.

Dusey said the National Queer Theatre suspected that it could lose the grant after joining the American Pirlibleties Union’s lawsuit against the NEA, passing a new certificate on behalf of the arts organization that requires artists to obtain a 2025-26 grant to prove that they will not “promote gender awareness” and receive any potential funding.

The NEA has added the provision because Trump's executive order declares two unchanged genders and bans "federal funding for gender ideology."

Days after the ACLU filed the lawsuit, the NEA removed the provision and said it would decide how to enforce Trump's orders. As a result, the court rejected the ACLU's request for a preliminary injunction last month. The lawsuit remains active, as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) expects the provision to be restored. Additionally, NEA offers rewards as reimbursement for the project rather than pre-provided NEA, but does not delete the individual The new eligibility criteria will revoke awards for any project that appears to “promote gender ideology.”

The ACLU believes that the initial certification requirements and qualification standards violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the First Amendment and the Fifth Amendment.

Dusey said the theater was concerned that joining the lawsuit could mark its current project as NEA and result in funds being revoked, but those requirements would render it ineligible for much-needed funds in the future.

"If you care about art, if you care about representation, then it's more than just a grant," Dusey said. "It's about attacks on artists and stories and the perspectives that are considered Americans. The broader question is who is the target - immigrants, people of color, queer and trans, people with gender substandards. Art is a pathway."