THE BLACK ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS RECEIVES MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO SUPPORT ARCHIVE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) recently received a major contribution from Ron Kirk to support TBAAL’s extensive Archive Collection, a new community engagement partnership with the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries. Kirk, the former Dallas Mayor and United States Ambassador, now Senior of Counsel at the law firm Gibson Dunn said, “I am pleased to support the outstanding work of Curtis King and TBAAL to promote and support the arts in our community. This exciting partnership with the University of North Texas will allow these two great institutions to preserve TBAAL’s rich archival history. It is my sincere hope that others will join me in supporting this initiative to preserve this important Dallas and American cultural arts treasure.”
The contribution will be used to assist in supporting a full time TBAAL Archivist to work with UNT Library’s Special Collections staff in order to further develop, maintain and educate the public about TBAAL’s archive collection.
Earlier last Season, Dr. Joe Rice, a Texas based scholar and writer, visited TBAAL and had the opportunity to tour the institution’s archives. Impressed with what he saw, Dr. Rice asked Curtis King, TBAAL’s founder and president, if he could contact several major universities, on our behalf, to see if there was an interest in a joint partnership to help preserve and digitize TBAAL’s archival collection which will enable the world to view and to have access for research. King said, “I was impressed with the idea. In a matter of weeks, I was having a flurry of telephone conversations and meeting-after-meeting to discuss the formation of a partnership with a major American University, UNT. Receiving a significant financial donation from Ron is affirmation and the icing-on-the-cake that represents the beginning of our move forward.”
When King and members of TBAAL’s Board of Directors met with Dr. Martin Halbert, UNT’s Dean of Libraries, Dr. Halbert said, “This partnership signifies another great step in the university’s commitment to genuine collaborations. We are overwhelmed to be working with TBAAL and we believe this relationship is going to be mutually beneficial in many ways to the University and TBAAL.”
“This is an exciting time in the institution’s history. As we forge ahead with this great collaboration with UNT to preserve TBAAL’s History, we hope that future generations will one day glance back and say, ‘look what they did” said Barbara Steele, TBAAL Board Chair.
TBAAL attracts over 400,000 patrons and produces and presents more than one hundred (100) programs annually.
