Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (WBTT) has received a $600,000 grant from Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation to support the organization’s continued artistic, educational, and organizational growth.  The funding will enable WBTT to build organizational capacity, expand its education programs, and provide new opportunities for emerging artists – from teens to more seasoned adult professionals – while continuing to produce high-quality theatrical experiences that connect with growing audiences locally and beyond.

The Barancik Foundation grant provides flexible support for WBTT’s core productions, artist development, community engagement, and key internal capacity needs. It comes at an important time for the organization, which has grown from its roots in the historic Newtown community into a vital part of the region’s cultural fabric and an increasingly prominent influence on Black theatre nationally.

For more than 25 years, WBTT has produced high-caliber theatre that celebrates African American history and culture while creating opportunities for artists, young people, and audiences to connect. Its productions and education programs reach thousands of people each year, entertaining and educating while helping deepen understanding across the community. At the same time, WBTT has built meaningful pathways for young people and emerging artists to build confidence, develop and strengthen their performance skills, and see new possibilities for themselves on stage and beyond.

The new grant will help WBTT continue that work while investing in the leadership, infrastructure, and financial resilience needed to sustain it. Funding will support mainstage performances, community outreach, youth-focused programs, audience development, staff leadership development, and greater advancement capacity.

“Our community benefits from spaces where African American stories are told with authenticity and care, and where artists and young people can see themselves reflected on stage,” said WBTT Executive Director Julie Leach. “As WBTT has grown in scale and reputation, sustaining this work has become more complex. This support will help us continue delivering the quality and consistency our community relies on and is inspired by while we also prepare thoughtfully for the future.”

By supporting both WBTT’s programming and the infrastructure behind it, the Barancik Foundation grant will help ensure WBTT can continue to deliver consistent, high-quality theatrical work while engaging new audiences and supporters. The organization expects to reach a growing and increasingly diverse audience, including individuals experiencing WBTT for the first time.

“Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe is more than an artistic asset for Sarasota,” said Omar Guevara-Soto, Barancik Foundation senior vice president. “It is a cultural anchor and a pathway for opportunity. This investment recognizes the excellence that WBTT has built over two and a half decades and supports the leadership and organizational strength that will carry that vital work into the future.”

For more about WBTT, visit westcoastblacktheatre.org.

About Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe
The mission of Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (WBTT) is to produce professional theatre that promotes and celebrates African American history and experience, engages a broad base of patrons and audiences, supports the development of a dynamic group of aspiring artists, and builds confidence in youth of color. Visit westcoastblacktheatre.org for more information.

About Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation
The Charles and Margery Barancik family has long believed in the power of philanthropy to shape our world and enrich the lives of all people.  It was the expression of this belief that led them in 2014 to establish Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation—a private, family foundation located in Sarasota, Florida.  Barancik Foundation creates initiatives and awards grants in Sarasota and beyond in the areas of education, humanitarian causes, arts and culture, the environment, and medical research.  For more information, visit www.barancikfoundation.org.