Brooklyn Children's Theatre Awarded $57,400 Cultural Development Fund Grant Through New York City Department Of Cultural Affairs

BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S THEATRE (BCT) has been awarded $57,400 in grant funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor Eric Adams administration. This grant will support BCT's unique approach to social and emotional learning through equity-focused musical theatre programming at their Gowanus, Brooklyn studios. The funding will allow BCT to provide 53 classes for the 2022-2023 year across Mainstage, Weekend, Summer, and Technique classes, featuring partial and full scholarships to students in need.

The Cultural Development Fund Grant was awarded in part due to the organization's commitment to equity, inclusion, and belonging by expanding partial-scholarship and free programming for communities that have been historically excluded from the arts. BCT's student body is two-thirds majority scholarship students (one-thid partial scholarship and one-third full scholarship).

Equity and empowerment through the arts are guiding values that inform BCT's commitment to challenging white supremacy and class privilege within the arts.

BCT breaks down power structures usually found in theatre arts education that benefit economically-privileged students, with staff working with students from family shelters, low-income communities, and foster homes, providing snacks, meals, and chaperone assistance to and from programs.

BCT is an investment into the next generation of artists and an important part of expanding arts access and leadership opportunities for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and lower-income communities. College-aged Teaching Artist Trainees, often BCT alums, gain paid training as teaching artists and progress through the program to become full-fledged teaching artists in BCT classrooms.

Challenging norms of white supremacy in the arts requires opportunities for students to explore their potential, as well as equitable content creation. Over half of BCT teaching artists and writers are people of color, and every class has at least one BIPOC teaching artist and writer. Representation is transformative for BIPOC youth when they see themselves in the role models who guide them through the artistic process.

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