The Black Academy of Arts and Letters will temporarily relocate to Fair Park as part of a $3.7 billion renovation of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. As NBC 5’s Candace Sweat reports, the founder Curtis King shares what the move means for the future.
Plans are moving forward to overhaul Dallas' Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. The Black Academy of Arts and Letters is included in the $3.7 billion project and will temporarily relocate to Fair Park while improvements are made.
NBC 5 caught up with the academy’s founder and president, Curtis King, about what this will mean for years to come.
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WATCH HEREDecades of historic performances and renowned visitors are commemorated throughout the halls of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, which sits at the corner of Canton and Akard streets, adjacent to City Hall.
“We worked very hard to get in this space. Now we are thirty-six years later in this space,” King said.
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SIGN UP As good as it’s been, King said the best is yet to come.
“The arts are very important in the city, and we are very much a part of the economic growth, and the vitality and the spirit of the city of Dallas,” he said.
The Dallas City Council’s Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee will meet on Tuesday to discuss the timeline, logistics, and cost for Component 4 of the plan.
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“I think we’ve done the work. I think we deserve it. I think the city is a forward-thinking city to put money in the arts,” King said.
The anticipated updates mean, for an estimated two and a half to three years, TBAAL will operate inside a temporary location. The committee proposed The Women’s Museum inside Fair Park.
King promises, though, that they won’t miss a beat.
“We put together a very detailed transition plan, starting July first, every week what has to be moved,” he said.
When the project is complete and The Black Academy of Arts and Letters returns to Canton Street, King said he looks forward to the community experiencing the new and improved facility.
“When people walk in the hallways, they should see all of this incredibly rich history,” he said. “And that history creates conversation, dialogue and discussion about a group of people and the contribution that we have made to the country and to the world.”
For more information about this phase of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Master Plan, visit City of Dallas Legistar.
