Final Assignment: No Title

This is very rough, but that's what workshopping is for :) 

Walking into the Black Arts and Cultural Center in downtown Kalamazoo, the Gayle Sydnor gallery space displays paintings and various artworks by local community African American artists who desire to contribute to the center’s focus on becoming a primary source that explore the arts and culture of the African Diaspora.

The center is completely empty, except for about twelve paintings that hang on four walls with plenty of floor space for visitors to stroll around the room and observe the paintings. Not many people walk into the center to observe the artworks after they were first introduced during Kalamazoo’s Art Hop, open to the public for the month of May. (Description of center will change due to change in exhibition for upcoming Art Hop).

Co-founder of the BACC, Mr. James C. Palmore, 68, an African American artist who teaches basic painting at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, spoke about the center’s evolvement since 1985.

“At first, it was a lot of work in forming this new organization because we had to find people that would be fully committed to it,” Mr. Palmore said.

During the summer of 1985, Mr. Palmore, along with Bertha Barbee-McNeal, a founding member of Motown’s The Velvelettes, Lois Jackson, City of Kalamazoo's Recreation, Leisure and Cultural Services Division manager, and her close friend Gayle Sydnor, were the first people to gather a calling to a public of about thirty people, to present the idea of having a festival for the art community.

With more consents and involvement from the community, their first major event was the Black Arts Festival in August. The festival ran for three days during a weekend, where people sang gospel music and artists hosted art shows in Spring Valley Park and Bronson Park.

“The festival was such a real success. People came from Detroit, Battle Creek, all of the surrounding cities, and they saw people they haven’t seen since high school and so on,” said Mr. Palmore.

The Black Arts Festival and advertisement for the event was co-sponsored by the City of Kalamazoo’s Parks and Recreation Department. The event was elaborately advertised with posters, flyers, and buttons, which the committee dropped off in different nearby cities. The Kalamazoo Gazette also contributed by writing an article to promote the festival within Kalamazoo city.

Due to the success of the Black Arts Festival, the Downtown Kalamazoo Incorporation offered the founders a vacant building, now known as the Kalamazoo Museum on Burdick Street, which used to be a furniture store that closed down. The new Black Arts Center occupied a large space, enough for three offices, on the second floor where a set committee was formed and the center officially became the Black Arts Cultural Center.

Mr. Sidney Ellis has been a volunteer and board member for twenty years before becoming BACC’s executive director. During his experience in working with the center, Mr. Ellis has observed the changes in the center’s success in being recognized by the general public of Kalamazoo.

            “In the first five years, we were located on the mall and we had a store front location. Our doors were open to the sidewalk where people could hear us playing music, acting, they would look at some artwork on the windows, and were exposed to what we were doing. So in terms of exposure, that was probably one of the best times,” Mr. Ellis said.

Now relocated to the Epic Center, along with other art organizations, such as the Crescendo Academy of Music, Fontana Chamber Arts, and collaboration with many others, the BACC continues in building connections and exposing the African American culture through art.

Co-founder of BACC, Mr. Palmore commented on the diversity level of the general public’s interest in the black arts during the 1980’s, “Caucasian people had either fear or just weren’t interested in our festival. Maybe the title for them just read ‘only for black people,’ but all of that has improved since the 1980’s. The arts have helped bring black and white people together,” Mr. Palmore said.

Mr. Ellis also noted the level of diversity in the BACC, “With the name of ‘Black’ in our title, people assume it’s only for the black community. However, we have Caucasian, Hispanic and African American participants in our programs. Our mission is to enhance awareness, connect people to people and organizations. We are always hoping to build bridges for the African American community, for them to experience art from a different cultural perspective. Through art one can understand what that culture is,” Mr. Ellis said.

The ongoing programs are the art exhibitions, Black Writers, Theatre, and the Black Arts Festival, a yearly special event. The purpose of these programs is to provide education, promote art appreciation and community interactions, and give opportunities for networking, career development, and an audience that supports the works, performances and success of African American artists of all ages.