BLACK ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS WINS ITS FIRST EMMY AWARD FOR KING CONCERT SPECIAL Show Airs on CBS 11
DALLAS, TEXAS – After four Emmy nominations from the Lone Star Emmy Awards, a division of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) won its first television Emmy Award for the 34thAnnual Black Music and the Civil Rights Movement Concert: A Tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The concert is a joint long-term partnership with KTXA 21 television, the Dallas-based CBS (11) affiliate, and featured TBAAL’s 200-voice concert choir with special guest celebrities MALIK YOBA, B.SLADETm, BILAL and ERNEST PUGH.
Taped live at the downtown Dallas Morton H. Myerson Symphony Center for the past 20 years, this dramatic music and spoken word tribute to the slain civil rights leader has starred many major award-winning celebrities such as Erykah Badu, Jennifer Holliday, Patti Austin, Peabo Bryson, Tramaine Hawkins, Fantasia, Eartha Kitt, Albertina Walker, Tonea Stewart, Tony Terry, Rahsaan Patterson, B.Slade, Lalah Hathaway, Kim Fields, Karen Clark-Sheard, Mavis Staples, Ruben Studdard, Tevin Campbell, Phil Perry, Chante Moore, CeCe Winans, Esther Rolle, Ledisi and Chrisette Michele.
“It’s extremely exciting to be bestowed this honor for the artistic work we have produced and presented to the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area and in several other national American markets,” said Curtis King, the creator, producer and director of the live, televised concert. “This honor is a testament that hard work and persistent excellence yields a refreshing reward for everyone involved. It’s an award that belongs to KTXA 21 Director/Producer James Hammond III, our 200-voice TBAAL Concert Choir, choral directors, technicians, board of directors, staff and volunteers. I am blessed to have been given the artistic vision to create it.”
The Award was presented Saturday in San Antonio at the 15th Annual Lone Star Emmy Awards Show. The 34th Annual Black Music and The Civil Rights Movement Concert KTXA received the Emmy for Speical Event Coverage (other than News or Sports).
CBS General Station Manager Gary Schneider said the award was a long-time coming.
“We believe in the work of Curtis King and the Academy,” he said. “This concert is a major hallmark program for our station and the DFW Metroplex. In time, I see it as an annual national television special.”
TBAAL Board Chair Barbara Steele said the Emmy Award comes on the heels of the 2017 Regional Theatre Tony Award that the Dallas Theater Center (DTC) received in June.
“When Curtis King told the board that the Dallas Theater Center had received the 2017 Regional Theatre Tony Award, I was so pleased that a Dallas-based arts institution had received such an honor,” said Steele. “I am super excited that now two major Dallas arts institutions have received an Emmy (TBAAL) and a Tony (DTC) in one year. This speaks volumes that shows Dallas is an artistic mecca and a welcoming place for the arts.”
Purchase your tickets now for the upcoming 35th Annual Black Music and the Civil Rights Movement concert, Sunday, January 14, 2018 at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Call TBAAL Box Office 214.743.2400 or Ticketmaster 800.745.3000.
Celebrating 41 seasons,The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, Inc. (TBAAL) is a Dallas, TX-based not-for-profit multi-disciplined arts institution.TBAAL’s mission is to create and enhance an awareness and understanding of artistic, cultural, and aesthetic differences utilizing the framework of African-American Arts and Letters and to promote, foster, cultivate, perpetuate and preserve the Arts and Letters of the African, Caribbean and African-American experience in the Fine, Literary, Visual, Performing and Cinematic Arts.
The Black Academy of Arts and Letters Inc. 2017-2018 41st Season programs are supported in part by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, CBS-11/TXA-21, Urban Radio-Dallas, Evans Engraving and Toyota. Media partners: The Dallas Weekly, The Downtown Business News, I-MessengerNews.com, The Garland Journal, Texas Metro News, DFWBam.com, Dallas Black Business Directory, Dallas Gospel Connection, The Dallas Examiner, The Post Tribune, The North Dallas Gazette, Southern Dallas Business & Living Magazine and Tarrant County Commercial Record.
