THE BLACK ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS (TBAAL) is a multi-discipline arts institution whose mission is to create and enhance an awareness and understanding of artistic, cultural, and aesthetic differences utilizing the framework of African, African American and Caribbean Arts and Letters. Additionally, its purpose is to promote, foster, cultivate, perpetuate, and preserve the Arts and Letters of the African, African American and Caribbean experience in the Fine, Literary, Performing, Visual, and Cinematic Arts.
• TBAAL is the third generation of academics. The first generation is the American Negro Academy which was founded March 5, 1897 by Rev. Dr. Alexander Crummell. Dr. W.E.B. DuBois was elected its first President after the passing of Dr. Crummell.
• TBAAL grew out of the New York City based Black Academy of Arts and Letters (BAAL) founded in 1969. Dr. C. Eric Lincoln was the founding, President.
• July 17, 1977, Curtis King founded this arts institution on his dining room table with a personal investment of $250.
• Now based in Dallas, Texas, TBAAL is housed in a 250,000 sq. ft. facility located in the heart of downtown Dallas in Kay Bailey Hutchison (Dallas) Convention Center.
• TBAAL Fiscal Year and Season runs from September 1 through August 31
• TBAAL is the only arts and African American institution housed in a major urban convention center in the United States.
• TBAAL’s facility has 2 theatres (Naomi Bruton Main Stage – seats 1,730 and Clarence Muse Cafe Theatre – seats 250), costume shop, 4 large banquet/meeting rooms, James E. Kemp Gallery, Eva Jessye Gift Shop, Esther Rolle Lounge, administrative offices, etc.
• TBAAL has a full-time staff of 25, 60 contract laborers/vendors, a 9-member board of directors, 21 Millennial Board Members (Ex-Officio), and over 50 regular volunteers.
• In June of 2015, the Mayor and Dallas City Council approved an additional 30-year contractual agreement for TBAAL to continue its operations in the downtown Dallas Convention Center. This location has been the permanent home of the institution since January 1989.
• In the early 1980s, TBAAL received its first $5,000 grant from the City of Dallas. Since then, that support has grown to over $350,000 to support its programs and operations from the City of Dallas’ Office of Arts and Culture. TBAAL has received Arts-and-Education funding from the Dallas Independent School District for several years. Its first-year funding of $52,000 has increased to over $250,000 for its Summer Youth Arts Enrichment Institute and the Performing Arts Matters: an After School Extended Learning Program.
• TBAAL’s Riverfront Jazz Festival, founded and created by Curtis King, is one of the fastest growing Jazz Festivals in the United States and the only major music festival in Dallas, TX.
• Annually, TBAAL services an audience of over 500,000 patrons, (pre Covid-19 pandemic), currently received over 4-million has a membership base of 5,000, sends/distributes brochures to 50,000 patrons on our nationwide general mailing list, receives over 4 million hits on the institution’s website, has over 28,000 Facebook Followers, 9,849 followers on Instagram, 4,504 Twitter followers (nearly 6,000 weekly Re-Tweets), 500 plus LinkedIn connections and advertises/communicates daily to over 40,000 patrons currently on our email database.
• TBAAL services more than 50,000 youth in its Arts-and-Education programs.
• Annually, TBAAL presents and produces over 100 programs in theatre, music, dance, film/video/photography and visual and literary arts.
• TBAAL has been the launching pad for such notable artists as Grammy winner Erykah Badu, Emmy and Golden Globe winner Regina Taylor, Grammy winner Roy Hargrove, and the young artist Skye Turner who recently starred as the young Tina Turner on Broadway and portrayed the young Aretha Franklin in the film starring Jennifer Hudson.
• TBAAL received a major 3-year national Black Seed Theatre Grant funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in partnership with the New York City based Billie Holiday Theatre.
• TBAAL was a recipient of the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, a Federal Grant to help sustain the institution during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• TBAAL is excited to be a part of the city’s diverse cultural expansion which is a part of The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center’s new billion-dollar construction, renovation, and expansion development project.
• TBAAL and Curtis King are the recipients of 4 Emmy Awards (Lone Star Region) for its “Black Music and the Civil Rights Movement” Concert, a televised partnership with the Dallas-Fort Worth – CBS Texas affiliate.
• The official new TBAAL logo was launched in August of 2023 near the end of season 46 and going into season 47.
THE MEANING OF TBAAL’S LOGO . . .
—Double C C means Center for Creation
—Straight Red Line to the right means infinite (limitless or endless in space, extent, or size . . . impossible to measure or calculate
—Straight Red line to the left means there’s no separation between creation and the infinite
—Color Red represents the blood African Americans shed that’s buried in American soil
Nearly five decades, TBAAL has been home for thousands of youths and emerging young artists. Also, the likes of established artists: Erykah Badu, Ledisi, Eartha Kitt, Esther Rolle, Beah Richards, Phyllis Hyman, Billy Preston, Patti Austin, Najee, Gerald Albright, Will Downing, Angie Stone, Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Fantasia, Kim Fields, Anna Maria Horsford, Antonio Fargas, Blair Underwood, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Loretta Devine, Kim Whitley, George Faison, Dionne Warwick, Harolyn Blackwell, Oleta Adams, Peabo Bryson, Lalah Hathaway, Jennifer Holiday, Chrisette Michele, Melba Moore, Cicely Tyson, Warrington Huddlin, Stanley Crouch, Sonia Sanchez, Diahann Carroll, Malik Yoba, Steve Harvey, Rickey Smiley, Maya Angelou, Della Reese, Jackee Harry, Louis Gossett Jr., Vondie Curtis-Hall, Christian Keyes, Margaret Walker, Alice Randall, Clifton Davis, Lou Myers, CeCe Winans, Maysa, Nnenna Freelan, KoKo Taylor, Wynton Marsalis, Tramaine Hawkins, Vickie Winans, Charles S. Dutton, Sheryl Lee Ralph, KiKi Shepard, Linda Hopkins, Freda Payne, Oliva Cole, Kevin Hooks, Robert Hooks, Roger E. Mosley, Jr., Ernest Hardin, Jr., Kim Coles, T.C. Carson, CoCoa Brown, Rodney Perry, Damon Williams, Jeff Lorber, Philip Rose, Juanita Moore, Irma P. Hall, Kirk Franklin, Charley Pride, Tevin Campbell, David E. Talbert, Dick Gregory, Bill Cosby, Halle Berry, Yolanda King, Hal Williams, Marla Gibbs, Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Samella Lewis, Mari Evans, Myrna Summers, Sara Jordan Powell, Ella Joyce, Bill Cobbs, Bobbi Humphrey, Tony Terry, Rahsaan Patterson, Ray J, Jennifer Williams, Frenchie Davis, Ann Nesby, Ruben Studdard, Jasmine Guy, Cassi Davis, Kirk Franklin, Tamela and David Mann, Cissy Houston, Tito Puente Jr., Musiq Soulchild, Stephanie Mills, Avery Sunshine, Bob James, Le’Andria Johnson, Avery Wilson, Loretta Devine, Chucho Valdes, Stanley Clarke, Boney James, David Sanborn, etc. have performed in many of TBAAL programs and special projects.
