Black Theatre Coalition Announces 2025 Building the Change Gala

Black Theatre Coalition (BTC) has announced it will host its second annual Building the Change Gala March 3, 2025 at the Rainbow Room.

The event will celebrate inclusion in the arts with the presentation of the Poitier-Belafonte Award for Cultural Activism, the Chadwick Boseman Change Maker Award, and the Lynn Nottage Bold Beacon Award. The 2024 honorees were Ava DuVernay, National Black Theatre, and LaLa Anthony. Honorees and special guests for the 2025 gala will be announced at a later date.

Ahead of the gala, BTC invites contributors to help meet their fundraising goal. All support will directly fund the organization's fellowship program and community initiatives, advancing BTC’s mission to "remove the illusion of inclusion” in the American theatre.

“Once we identified just how vast the disparity is between the perceived inclusivity on stage and the utter dearth of Black professionals off stage, we began outlining ways in which we could address and ultimately eradicate this invisible disparity," BTC founders T. Oliver Reid, Warren Adams, and Reginald "Reggie" Van Lee said in a joint statement. "This outline provided a clear path forward for our organization and our entire industry. It’s high time to end this ‘illusion of inclusion’ by reshaping the theatrical ecosystem for those who have been marginalized by systematically biased power structures that have endured since the dawn of the American theatre.”

Since 2020, BTC has connected over 100 Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) fellows and apprentices with Broadway organizations and productions, including Disney Theatrical Group, The Nederlander Organization, John Gore Organization and current productions of Moulin Rouge!, Swept Away, and more; placed fellows in major production companies and marketing, media, and design firms; coordinated regional apprenticeships at Broadway Across America offices across the continental U.S., provided observation opportunities for 10 Historically Black College and University (HBCU) graduates on the Les Misérables tour, and increased the percentage of Black general managers on Broadway by 1200%, with over $1.5 million paid to emerging professionals.

Looking ahead to 2030, BTC is committed to increasing the number of BIPOC theatre and arts professionals by 500% in every discipline.

Visit BuildingTheChange.org for more information.