National Black Arts Festival
Encyclopedia
The National Black Arts Festival was founded in 1987 after the Fulton County Arts Council (in Atlanta, Georgia
) commissioned a study to explore the feasibility of creating a festival dedicated to celebrating the work of artists of African descent. The study provided compelling reasons why the Atlanta community was the right place for such a festival. Fulton County Government as the major sponsor, joined by additional corporate and foundation sponsors, the Festival's first biannual summer festival was held in 1988.
Over the eighteen years of the festival, artists and attendees alike have come to expect the emerging and renowned artists to grace the stages and exhibition spaces of the city; collectors look eagerly to the Artists’ Market for their next opportunity to buy from some of the best artists in the country; film fans flock to the screenings of known and unknown work; concert halls are filled with the voices and instruments of those who are considered to be the standard bearers in jazz, gospel and everything in-between; the masters of the stage and screen have joined us over the years; and the writers who have preserved the voices of the African Diaspora in literature have blessed us with their presence. People of all ages and races have gathered together to bask in the presence of: Maya Angelou
, Charles Dutton
, Wynton Marsalis
, Amiri Baraka
, Avery Brooks
, Nancy Wilson
, Sweet Honey in the Rock
, Spike Lee
, Ousmane Sembène
, Pearl Cleage
, Kenny Leon
, Carrie Mae Weems
, Radcliffe Bailey, Sonia Sanchez
and literally thousands of other artists from the USA and around the world.
As the festival firmly established itself as one of the most important festivals in the World presenting the art and culture of the African Diaspora
, it seized the opportunity to expand to year round educational and humanities programming and hosting the Festival every year. With a regular presence the festival looks forward to continuing and strengthening its important ties with its many local, national and international partners. The Festival's success has been anchored by the willing and creative collaborations of local cultural institutions. This year alone there are over 40 independently produced programs; without them side by side, the festival's energy and ability to reach so many–the young and old in every corner of the country–would be dramatically diminished.
And the commitment of the festival's various artistic leadership: Avery Brooks
, Dwight Andrews and Stephanie Hughley have allowed the breadth and reach of the festivals to touch over five million people since the first Festival. Each artistic director brought their own ideas and energy, building on the vision of their colleagues across the diaspora
.
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
) commissioned a study to explore the feasibility of creating a festival dedicated to celebrating the work of artists of African descent. The study provided compelling reasons why the Atlanta community was the right place for such a festival. Fulton County Government as the major sponsor, joined by additional corporate and foundation sponsors, the Festival's first biannual summer festival was held in 1988.
Over the eighteen years of the festival, artists and attendees alike have come to expect the emerging and renowned artists to grace the stages and exhibition spaces of the city; collectors look eagerly to the Artists’ Market for their next opportunity to buy from some of the best artists in the country; film fans flock to the screenings of known and unknown work; concert halls are filled with the voices and instruments of those who are considered to be the standard bearers in jazz, gospel and everything in-between; the masters of the stage and screen have joined us over the years; and the writers who have preserved the voices of the African Diaspora in literature have blessed us with their presence. People of all ages and races have gathered together to bask in the presence of: Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...
, Charles Dutton
Charles Dutton
Charles Dutton may refer to:* Charles S. Dutton, American actor/producer* Charles M. Dutton, Crew Chief Spc. in the Warlords, B-Company of the 123rd Aviation Battalion in the American Division, killed in the Vietnam War...
, Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
, Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...
, Avery Brooks
Avery Brooks
Avery Franklin Brooks is an American actor, television director, jazz musician, opera singer and college professor. Brooks is perhaps best known for his television roles as Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and as Hawk on Spenser: For Hire and its spinoff A Man Called Hawk, and in the...
, Nancy Wilson
Nancy Wilson (singer)
Nancy Wilson is an American singer with more than 70 albums, and three Grammy Awards. She has been labeled a singer of blues, jazz, cabaret and pop; a "consummate actress"; and "the complete entertainer." The title she prefers, however, is song stylist...
, Sweet Honey in the Rock
Sweet Honey in the Rock
Sweet Honey in the Rock is an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble. They are an American Grammy Award-winning troupe who express their history as women of color through song, while entertaining their audience. They have together worked from four women to the difficult five-part harmony...
, Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
, Ousmane Sembène
Ousmane Sembène
Ousmane Sembène , often credited in the French style as Sembène Ousmane in articles and reference works, was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer...
, Pearl Cleage
Pearl Cleage
Pearl Cleage is an African-American author whose work, both fiction and non-fiction, has been widely recognized. Her novel, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day was a 1998 Oprah’s Book Club selection. Cleage is known for her feminist views, particularly regarding her identity as an...
, Kenny Leon
Kenny Leon
Kenny Leon is an African-American director notable for his work on Broadway and in regional theater. His success on Broadway has made him one of its foremost African-American directors....
, Carrie Mae Weems
Carrie Mae Weems
Carrie Mae Weems is an award-winning photographer and artist. Her photographs, films, and videos have been displayed in over 50 exhibitions in the United States and abroad and focus on serious issues that face African Americans today, such as racism, gender relations, politics, and personal identity...
, Radcliffe Bailey, Sonia Sanchez
Sonia Sanchez
Sonia Sanchez is an African American poet most often associated with the Black Arts Movement. She has authored over a dozen books of poetry, as well as plays and children's books...
and literally thousands of other artists from the USA and around the world.
As the festival firmly established itself as one of the most important festivals in the World presenting the art and culture of the African Diaspora
African diaspora
The African diaspora was the movement of Africans and their descendants to places throughout the world—predominantly to the Americas also to Europe, the Middle East and other places around the globe...
, it seized the opportunity to expand to year round educational and humanities programming and hosting the Festival every year. With a regular presence the festival looks forward to continuing and strengthening its important ties with its many local, national and international partners. The Festival's success has been anchored by the willing and creative collaborations of local cultural institutions. This year alone there are over 40 independently produced programs; without them side by side, the festival's energy and ability to reach so many–the young and old in every corner of the country–would be dramatically diminished.
And the commitment of the festival's various artistic leadership: Avery Brooks
Avery Brooks
Avery Franklin Brooks is an American actor, television director, jazz musician, opera singer and college professor. Brooks is perhaps best known for his television roles as Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and as Hawk on Spenser: For Hire and its spinoff A Man Called Hawk, and in the...
, Dwight Andrews and Stephanie Hughley have allowed the breadth and reach of the festivals to touch over five million people since the first Festival. Each artistic director brought their own ideas and energy, building on the vision of their colleagues across the diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
.