The second annual event is again being held at the Rainbow Room in NYC.
BTC, formerly the Black Theatre Coalition, hosts its second annual Building the Change Gala March 3 at the Rainbow Room.
The event celebrates inclusion in the arts with the presentation of several awards. Luis A. Miranda will receive the Poitier-Belafonte Award for Cultural Activism, with the Chadwick Boseman Change Maker Award going to Brooklyn-based non-profit Girl Be Heard, and the Lynn Nottage Bold Beacon Award to Phylicia Rashad. Newly being awarded this year is the Visionary Ally Award, which will be presented to The John Gore Organization.
“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 an earlier 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.”
This year's host committee comprises David Belafonte, George Faison, Irene Gandy, David Henry Hwang, Hugh Jackman, Alicia Keys, Sade Lythcott, Jonathan McCrory, Alex Newell, Gigi Pritzker, Clint Ramos, Lauren Reid, Cody Renard Richard, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Rhonda Ross Kendrick, and Thomas Schumacher.