WBTT Approved by NEA for Rescue Plan Grant

January 28, 2022 – Sarasota

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe has been approved to receive an American Rescue Plan grant by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA); these grants are intended to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic. WBTT is recommended to receive $50,000 over the next two years, which it will use to support artistic team salaries.

Organizations approved for American Rescue Plan grants may use this funding to save jobs and to fund operations and facilities, health and safety supplies, and marketing and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation. In total, the NEA will award grants totaling $57,750,000 to 567 arts organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC.

Rescue Plan grants – which are available through the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 – are intended to help support jobs in the arts sector, keep the doors open to arts organizations nationwide, and assist the field in its response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Our nation’s arts sector has been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Endowment for the Arts’ American Rescue Plan funding will help arts organizations, such as Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, rebuild and reopen,” said Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the NEA. “The arts are crucial in helping America’s communities heal, unite, and inspire, as well as essential to our nation’s economic recovery.”  

“As the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on our operations and, thus, revenues, we are incredibly grateful for the National Endowment for the Arts’ support,” added WBTT Executive Director Julie Leach. “We consider this grant to be an affirmation of our important work, which ensures greater diversity in professional theatre offerings, training and performance opportunities for rising artists of color, and education outreach programs for students and adults.”

The American Rescue Plan was signed into law in March 2021, when the NEA was provided $135 million for the arts sector. The funding for organizations is the third installment providing more than $57.7 million for arts organizations. For more information on the NEA’s American Rescue Plan grants, including the full list of arts organizations funded in this announcement, visit arts.gov/COVID-19/the-american-rescue-plan.

For more about WBTT or its upcoming season of shows, call 941-366-1505 or go to westcoastblacktheatre.org.