“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.” B.B. King
THE BLACK ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS is committed to providing the best possible education, via the arts, to every student who walks through our doors. We believe that training and exposure offers students an opportunity to develop and grow, at a rapid pace, if they are nurtured and challenged at an early age. Additionally, if students are nestled in a creative and positive learning environment for creative expression in classroom settings and before a live audience, we believe that they will become good productive citizens, ardent arts patrons, and extraordinary artists. Our Arts-and-Education programs are designed to further enrich young students’ artistic abilities in the performing, literary, visual, cinematic and technical arts.
- PROMISING YOUNG ARTISTS SERIES
This series is created to give young performing artists an opportunity to be featured in TBAAL’s annual program season. - PERFORMING ARTS MATTER- AFTER SCHOOL
An After School program partnership with the Dallas Independent School District, three teaching performing artists in each of the music, theatre and dance disciplines are assigned to selected schools who have After School programs. The 12-week program is designed to help students improve their literacy and language vocabulary, develop and cultivate their creativity, expand their critical thinking skills, expose them to alternative avenues for problem solving and guide them in positive directions to aid in resolving social issues and peer and cultural conflicts. The program culminates with a special combined public presentation. - SUMMER ARTS INSTITUTE
For three weeks, more than 400 youth, ages 10-18, take crash courses in Music, Dance, Theatre, Costume Design, Make-Up, Lighting, Stage Management, Photography and Film/Video. The institute culminates with a large full-scale musical theater production. - SUMMER ARTS INTENSIVE PROGRAM WITH THE MASTERS
Seventy-five students who wish to further their careers in the performing arts: music, theatre, and dance, are selected to participate in this special training program with master artists and professionals. The program culminates with a public presentation. - BROADWAY DREAMS
A joint collaborative partnership with the Atlanta based Broadway Dreams Foundation, this program provides diverse Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan areas youth from all socio-economic backgrounds with performance training, life skills building, and mentorship opportunities from the entertainment industry’s most distinguished talents. Students can work with some of Broadway’s most well-known directors, choreographers, musicians, etc. They also have opportunities to audition for major casting agencies. - EXHIBITION GALLERY TOUR
TBAAL’s Gallery, named after the Dallas-based respected visual artist, James E. Kemp, house the institution’s collections of historically rare photographs, film footage, institutional documents, oral histories, celebrity memorabilia, archival ephemera and TBAAL’s four Emmy Award statutes. The gallery is open for guided and self-tours Tuesday-Friday from 10am – 6pm and Saturday from 12 noon – 4pm. The gallery is closed on Mondays.
