The 25th Anniversary National Black Arts Festival
July 6-Sept. 14.
At various locations around Atlanta
Festival Highlights
Pan-African Film Festival, noon-midnight, July 18, 19, 20; $10 per film; Southwest Arts Center, 915 New Hope Road, Atlanta. www.nbaf.org for film schedule
NBAF Gala, 7 p.m., July 2o, $500 , InterContinental Buckhead, 3315 Peachtree Road, Atlanta.; jhanenkrat@nbaf.org or 404-730-6939
Spread Love Outdoor picnic and music festival, noon - 8 p.m., Aug. 17, free, Grant Park, Atlanta; www.nbaf.org or 404-730-7315
Family Book Fair and storytelling, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Aug. 3, 10, 17, 24, 31; free; Atlanta Fulton Public Library locations. www.nbaf.org or 404-730-7315
Legends Celebration, 8 p.m., Sept. 13, $35, Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University, 80 Forsyth St., NW. www.nbaf.org or 404-730-7315
The National Black Arts Festival announced today its 25th Anniversary season line-up, a packed, three-month schedule that includes a Pan-African Film Festival, jazz concerts and pop-up performance art events.
It’s a schedule that is heavy on free events from July through September at venues around the city, from concert halls to unorthodox locations like gas stations. The anniversary event also will mark the return of the popular NBAF Legends Celebration after a two-year hiatus. And the organization’s signature annual gala, which will feature original “Dreamgirls” cast member Jennifer Holliday, is a show called “A Love Note to Broadway.
“We are taking a fresh approach to what we’re doing,” Sonya Halpern, NBAF board chair, said earlier this week.
It’s a more robust event than last year’s dramatically scaled back version. And yet for all of its public optimism and enthusiasm, the NBAF has reached a crossroads on its silver anniversary. How it moves forward may very well determine whether the organization reaches its golden jubilee.
In December, the organization laid off its six full-time employees. Within three months of that move, executive director Michael Simanga resigned his post. Simanga’s vision had been to expand the programming from a short summer festival to a year-round schedule with more revenue-generating events. There was also a goal for the non-profit to sponsor more of its own events and less through partnerships with others arts groups. Just before Simanga’s resignation, NBAF had a projected operating budget of roughly $2.2 million for fiscal 2013.
In the months since his departure, things have changed drastically. The operating budget has been slashed to at least half of Simanga’s projection, though Halpern declined to give a specific number. Four new board members were brought in this month, bringing the total board membership to 15. The organization has entered into a contract with the DeVos Arts Management Institute at the Kennedy Center for the Arts in New York to develop a plan to make the organization more stable financially and administratively.
No permanent full-time director has been hired since Simanga’s departure and three former employees are working under contract to put on this year’s festival. Simanga was the third executive director in four years. And the $270,000 in debt from prior festivals has yet to be retired. Halpern declined to say how much of that debt remained.
“Anytime you feel like you have to let go of staff, you have to reassess,” said Halpern, who became board chair in April. “We’ve spent from the end of last year to now figuring out what we want to do and how do we get it done. It’s a work in progress, but we’ve made considerable progress.”
Progress for now means a three-month anniversary schedule and a focus on emerging, young talent. The organization is also launching a fund-raising drive, the Silver Anniversary Circle Campaign, to bolster the NBAF’s general fund. It is not intended to retire the NBAF’s existing debt, Halpern said.
Next month, the festival launches with the theme, “Let the Celebration Begin,” with its “A Love Note to Broadway” gala, on July 20. Then, the focus switches to “Family and Community,” with a book fair and outdoor day-festival in Grant park on Aug. 17. But in a nod to the challenge the festival it faces, the theme for September is “Leadership.” As the festival concludes, the Legends event, hosted by actress Anna Maria Hosford, will be a highlight on Sept. 13, at the Rialto Center for the Arts. There is also a two-day conference beginning the same day that speaks most to what NBAF faces. It is a gathering of artists, scholars, funders and patrons coming together to talk about African-American culture in the 21st century. It’s title: “A Question of Relevance.”
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