IF YOU’RE READING THIS, THANK YOU.
Under the weight of a new and compounded crisis every day, you have opened this email from us. Thank you for caring, and for being a part of our community that believes in the power of storytelling for durable change. Right now, we need your belief—and your help—more than ever.
We’re at a critical juncture. Without immediate and sustained support, the risk of closing our doors is ever present. And even as we are a fully committed and determined team, this reality makes it difficult for us to do our work day to day.
WAIT, WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED?
During the racial uprising that followed the murder of George Floyd, at the height of the pandemic, we at BAC strayed from our original mission. Under lockdown, the theater industry faced a very public demand for cultural competency and DEI work, and came to us. We responded by stepping into that role. At the time, it felt like the right move. Our proximity to the industry and our methodology for enacting change uniquely positioned us to deliver this work even though that wasn’t what we were founded to do.
In hindsight, we see how this pivoted us away from the core of who we are: a space for justice-driven storytelling, where directly impacted voices take center stage toward systemic change. We diluted our focus, chasing opportunities for funding instead of deepening our impact within our own communities.
We own that decision, we learned from it, and now we are back. We have returned to the reason we were originally founded.
In October 2024, as we welcomed new leadership and restored our roots, we were met with a significant shift: Many donors, who knew us only from our Broadway work during the pandemic, departed. This left us without the funding streams that had previously sustained us. We have reached our fiscal cliff and we are falling off.
But our work continues. We just completed our 2025 Theater of Change program where artists and law students collaborated with The National Council of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, the Formerly Incarcerated College Graduate Network and the Safe Summers Program, driving home how art can move us to act.
AT THIS MOMENT, WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT.
Whether you can give $5 or $500,000, your contribution is what powers the work we do: excavating the stories of directly impacted communities and amplifying those stories toward our collective liberation.
Giving now will keep our doors open, sustaining our flagship programs, including our Theater of Change Workshop and the Artivism Fellowship.
We are serious. A $5 monthly gift is everything. For real, the tiny drop of water doesn’t realize it’s the ocean.
IF YOU BELIEVE IN THIS WORK, BUT CAN’T DONATE, HERE’S HOW YOU CAN STILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE:
Even if you’re unable to contribute financially, there are other meaningful ways to support our mission:
Send us a Valentine: Email us (info@bwayadvocacycoalition.org) or DM us (IG: @bwayadvocacycoalition) with an encouraging message on how BAC impacted you. This will keep us going.
Come to our funder briefing on February 27 at the Museum of Broadway. RSVP below.
Fundraise for us on social media and help us expand our reach.
While the world continues to burn, conflicts continue to escalate and the available levers for justice disappear before our eyes, you may wonder why we are pressing forward with our tiny arts-based advocacy organization.
Here’s one reason: We know that the wrong narratives are what got us here, and it is only the truth of our stories that will get us out. You making it to the end of this email means that you care. We are pressing forward for you, the people who care.
WITH GRATITUDE,
THE STAFF AT BROADWAY ADVOCACY COALITION