Facing pressure from Baltimore’s mayor to step down, the head of the city’s arts council, film office and events center has resigned.

Donna Drew Sawyer, who led the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, will no longer lead the department, said Brian D. Lyles, president of BOPA’s board of directors, in a statement Tuesday night. He said the search for her replacement begins immediately.

Sawyer’s resignation punctuates a dramatic few days in Baltimore, which began last week when the arts organization announced it would not be staging its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade for the third consecutive year. Initially, a spokeswoman from the mayor’s office said the decision had been made jointly.

...This story continues. Read the rest at The Baltimore Banner: BOPA head Donna Drew Sawyer resigns amid fallout over MLK parade cancellation

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