Yeah.
Damn it!
Damn you.
And they are looking just wonderful.
Just wonderful, see?
They need your energy.
The more energy that you give them,
the better that they will perform, right?
See there, those bright faces.
We want to welcome you
to the Black Academy of Arts and Letters.
I believe this is our third or fourth time
having this program.
So you are in for a major, major treat.
We have some talent on the stage this evening,
and we are very proud that we're able to host
this program year after year.
This is wonderful to know where your kids are
doing something that is not only artistic,
but very invigorating as well.
So give them a hand for just a minute.
But we know that they couldn't do that without you,
so proud parents, grandpas, grandmas, aunts and uncles,
cousins, first, second, and third, give
yourselves a hand.
All right?
My name is Leon Campbell.
I'm the membership coordinator with the Black Academy
of Arts and Letters.
And each time that I get up, I humble myself
because we know that in this time of economic crunch
that you have a choice.
And we humble ourselves that you decide
to make us one of your choices.
We have been on this corner for 19 years.
Our plan is to be here for another 19.
There is no place in the country where
you can come see programming, jazz, blues,
spoken word,
national touring shows, literary arts, visual arts.
There's no place where you can come and see
that for the ticket
prices that we have.
Mr. King makes a business to keep ticket prices affordable.
We cannot do without the arts.
And you know, as soon as there is a major cut,
the arts are the first thing to go.
So your congressmen and your senators and your representatives
need to hear your voice, not only statewide,
but nationwide. Yes.
Because the arts saved me.
I'm originally from Chicago, raised in the ghetto.
And someone gave me an opportunity.
And if it hadn't been for the arts,
the late Katherine Dunham gave me the opportunity.
And I have been all over the world.
Never knew that I would be able to see Africa
and Ireland
and Mexico, Puerto Rico, Montreal.
The list goes on forever.
And I would not have been able to do that if I
had not
been a part of the arts.
So we must fight to keep the arts a part of our lives.
We are hosting Hip Hop Broadway.
If you have been involved with the Black Academy
for any number of years, we do a program, a
summer arts
program, where we have over 500 kids here for
three weeks.
And they are just amazing.
Well, the show Hip Hop Broadway was set on our students
a couple of seasons ago.
Mr. King has decided to mount that show at the Windspear
Opera House, at the new AT&T Performing Arts Center
on next Saturday, November the 14th.
Curtain goes up at 8:00.
I mentioned a budget cut.
There's been $100,000 cut from our budget.
So the arts, again, are affected.
We are directly affected by that.
So we need your help desperately.
We need to fill that house.
So we need to show Mr. King how much we love him,
the support that he has given, what
he's done for the community.
So we need you to purchase those tickets.
Those tickets start at $35, $50, and $75.
Tickets are still available.
And you can purchase tickets.
We will do it rent sale.
So you can purchase those tickets tonight.
Our tickets are available.
But again, we need your help.
Jennifer Holliday, Eric Baidu, Melba Moore,
Harlan Blackwell,
Felicia Fields from the original cast of Color Purple
will be there.
It's going to be an amazing show.
And 14 of the kids that were a part of the Hip
Hop Broadway.
So again, we need your support in that.
If you are not a member with us, again, we're
going to give you complimentary memberships.
If you have a cousin, son, daughter up on the stage,
we'll give you a complimentary membership for
one year.
So make sure that you don't leave unless you
fill out
that whole form.
If you want to be on our email list,
we have these white cards at the membership table.
Please fill these out.
If you are on the email list, you know that
Miss Nora Wilson,
there she is right there.
She floods you with emails.
And we're going to keep flooding you with emails
so that you always know what's going on here
at the Black Academy.
There's something going on here every weekend.
But enough of that.
Again, you are in for a treat tonight.
So hold on to your seats.
Get involved into the music, into the scene.
Because these kids are going to just wow you.
Just going to wow you.
Mr. King will be here before midnight.
So he has not forgotten, but he's just
finishing Hip Hop
rehearsal downstairs.
But he will be here.
So again, welcome to the Black Academy.
And kids have a great show.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
The king shall rejoice.
The king shall rejoice in the church of the Lord.
The king shall rejoice, shall rejoice
in thy strength, O Lord.
The king shall rejoice.
The king shall rejoice in the strength, O Lord.
The king shall rejoice.
The king shall rejoice, shall rejoice
in the strength, O Lord.
The King shall rejoice, the King shall rejoice
in our strength O Lord. (applause)
I'm gonna sing till the Spirit moves in my
heart, I'm gonna sing till the Spirit moves in
my heart, I'm gonna sing till Jesus comes.
I'm gonna sing all my Jesus till He comes.
It was grace that taught me, it was grace that
will lead me.
Hallelujah, all my Jesus.
Can't you feel the Spirit moving?
Shout all my Jesus till He comes.
I'm gonna sing till my Jesus, till he comes. Mm-Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-Mm.
Good evening.
Our first selection for Orchestra is going to
include a song called Mariachi,
which is a traditional Hispanic song.
And then the second one is by Johan Joseph
Heye, classical composer,
a present movement of Symphony No. 3 in G Major.
With our next set of music, we'd like to give
you a little preview of some things to come.
A month from now, a little over a month from now,
the Black Academy is gracious to host us again
for a very large, very spectacular concert,
including the wonderful students you see tonight,
as well as students from about 7 or 8 other
high schools.
A very large Christmas Kwanzaa concert in Mid-December,
and we'd like to give you, even though it's
only November,
we'd like to give you a little taste of that.
We hope that you'll come and join us for that
as well.
The first piece is set to a beautiful piece of
text from an Irish prayer book.
It's called Christmas Blessing by composer
Philip Stockford.
And the second is a new twist on an old song.
It's a jazz version of Carol of the Bells
arranged by Kirby Shaw.
With the joy of the angels,
the gladness of the shepherds,
the worship of the wise men,
and the weeks of our Christ shall be yours,
be yours this Christmas.
With the joy of the angels,
the gladness of the shepherds,
the worship of the wise men,
and the weeks of our Christ shall be yours,
be yours this Christmas.
May Christ, who art, is in our nation,
gathered into one all things earthly,
all things heavenly, and fill you with joy,
fill you with joy and peace.
And the blessing of God,
the Father and the Son,
and the Holy Spirit be with you,
and remain with you always,
with you always,
and remain with you always.
Amen, amen. (applause)
Before we share our final piece with you, we'd
like to just thank you again for coming and
thank you again for supporting us.
Obviously we can't do this without you.
There's no way that we can be successful
without a wonderful audience and wonderful support.
Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers,
sisters, and whoever else.
We need you and we thank you for everything
that you do.
Thank you.
Please come see us again next month to see
these wonderful students again perform on the
big stage along with many other talented students.
And now we'd like to close with Vivaldi's L'Oreal.