[Fundraising letter]

27 Cooper Square
New York, N.Y., 10003
February 4, 1965

Dear Friend,

The Black Arts repertory theater/school as its name indicates will be a repertory theater as well as a school. It is my intention to set up in Harlem a repertory theater where the most meaningful dramas of our time can be staged, in repertory, in this largest of Negro ghettoes.

By repertory theater/school is meant that The Black Arts will also set up and continue to provide instruction, both practical and theoretical, in all areas of the dramatic arts. Acting, Writing, Directing, Set Designing, Production Management workshops will open aimed at gathering young Negroes interested in entering the professional theater world. The Black Arts will in turn make use of these “students” in its own repertory company.

The Black Arts will also make use of much of the already “established” Negro theater talent, as well as providing a place for new talent to come to maturity. As a school, The Black Arts would create an impressive learning situation to develop and stimulate an interest in contemporary theater, theater techniques, in a black community.

As Director of this project, I intend to surround myself with the most intelligent, serious and socially responsible staff (permanent and visiting) possible. I also intend to use the best material around. Young Negro playrights like Lonnie Elder, Adrienne Kennedy, Douglas Turner, who are already known, but whose work has not yet received the attention it deserves, will be among the contributors, while still younger Negro playwrights like Nat White and Charles Patterson have already indicated their willingness to promote such a project. We have commitments, already, from a great many theater people, e.g., actors like Robert Hooks, Lou Gossett, Al Freeman, Barbara Teer, and hope to have more commitments as we move.

We have figured that the minimum budget for a project such as this would be close to $1,000 per month. We already have some pledges of financial help, but we are in desperate need of more. The Black Arts will be housed in a once elegant brownstone in the center of Harlem. The theater, classrooms, dressing rooms are being designed by a young architect, himself passionately interested in theater arts. If we could raise one year’s budget, i.e., $12,000, we would be well on our way to achieving what so many people think of as “only a dream.” I hope you can help us.

Sincerely, 

LeRoi Jones, for 
THE BLACK ARTS 
repertory theater/school

[Proposal and Fundraising Letter]

THE BLACK ARTS 
REPERTORY THEATRE/SCHOOL 
109 West 130th Street 
New York, New York 10027

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

This April in Harlem, The Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School will open its doors to the people of the ghetto and to black people everywhere. It is our hope that we may build a continuing theatre against the background of a program of studies in the arts and culture of black people. The Black Arts will seek to instruct young black people in the dramatic arts and related subjects. Its overall cultural program includes courses in remedial education, music, dance, photography, writing, painting and history. As a repertory theatre The Black Arts will perform works that speak specifically to and of the lives of black people today. The Black Arts will not only portray but examine the experience of the black man in contemporary society.

The Black Arts will also act as a bridge of communication between the contemporary artist and the black community at large. By securing black artists as teachers, lecturers, staff members and performers, we hope to bring the artist and the community into direct contact with one another and provide a place for the exchange of ideas. The Black Arts will provide instruction in the cultural history of black people while providing practical instruction and experience in the arts.

The Black Arts will act as a center for the arts and culture and as a social organ in the community. Along with courses in and relating to the arts there will be established programs of remedial education to serve the community and an office of employment for both artists and students. For the permanent staff and visiting lecturers and performing artists we hope to be able to offer some small salary. This will depend on the expense of operating the school and the amount of money we can secure through donations and for plays, concerts, special lectures and panels, etc.

Right now we are still in the planning and organization stages of the project. We are already receiving help from artists and interested people here in New York and from a group of brothers and sisters in California, who under the name of The Bay Area Friends of The Black Arts are working hard to raise money and support, and collect equipment for the theatre/school. We still need money and/or committments from people who would be willing to help get this project together and keep it going. If you can offer us your aid and assistance or send us the names and addresses of other black people who you think would be interested in a program of this kind, we think that together we can give to our people the insight and help we as socially responsible people can give, and receive from them in return the encouragement and support we as artists need.

LeRoi Jones 
Charles Patterson 
Steve Young

For THE BLACK ARTS

[Listing of Classes]

THE BLACK ARTS REPERTORY THEATRE/SCHOOL

DEPARTMENTS

MUSIC
DRAMA
CULTURE

CLASSES

THE BLACK ARTS/INVITATIONAL CLASSES

1. “CULTURE AND THE BLACKMAN IN WESTERN SOCIETY”
   SUB TITLE
   THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MIGRATION
2. “CULTURAL PHILOSOPHY”
3. “THE PLAY IN CREATIVE, ETHICAL AND AESTHETIC INTERPRETATION”

[Calling all Black People!]                        

Calling all Black People!
Calling all Black People!
Come in Black People. Come in.
This is The Black Arts Calling.
This is The Black Arts . . .
Calling all Black People!
Calling all Black People!
Where are you?
Come in Black People. Come in.
This is The Black Arts . . .

THE BLACK ARTS, in the white west, where those practices whereby a man could harness the darker forces of the universe, to work at his bidding. Black Magic was what they worked, reaching out past what anybody said could be gotten, to pick on still deeper, still more elemental, more basic, blacker powers.

The black man in this white west, especially America, needs these blacker powers, or more exactly, he needs to realize that these powers are his, are always at his disposal, to be used, the way they were always used, to change the world. Which is what magic does, changes the world into the magicians image of it.

The black artist is a black magician. He has the powers of darkness at his disposal, they are the extension of himself into any anonymous world, the reason whereby he defines that world to be what he sees, wants, it to be. . .

We will teach all black men to be black artists, and to grow even stronger in this image of themselves, for it is definitely time for the black man to look at himself, and judge himself in terms of his needs. We understand, though it is a painful recognition, that some men prefer to be weak and oppressed rather than face their enemies but we also understand that there are some men who would rather die than remain slaves. The Black Arts is addressed to the last group, with hopes that they will want to help us to help themselves.

Calling all Black People!
Calling all Black People!
Come in Black People, Come in.
This is The Black Arts Calling.
This is The Black Arts . . .

THE BLACK ARTS wants and needs your help. We’re working on several heavy projects operating with a skeleton staff and there is a lot of business to be taken care of! If you can, give us a hand. For Black Art, Black People, and Black Freedom call: 926-2070 or come visit us at The Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School, 109 West 130th Street.

This is The Black Arts Calling!
This is The Black Arts . . .
Calling YOU!

[Towards A Black School]

TOWARDS A BLACK SCHOOL

What men become is what they teach and make themselves to be. Let the determination of their lives fall into the hands of some foreign spirit and that freedom is lost. The man who lets some alien tell him who he is & what his life should be allows that foreign being to murder him: Mind, Body and Spirit. THE BLACK ARTS is understanding the world as you and I made it, how we have come to where we are, Harlem, THE BLACK NATION in America, 1966. For us who are young, strong in heart and mind, and believe our version of the world as “hip” as any man’s BLACK ART is KNOWLEDGE of what THE BLACK NATION in America means and what the powers of Black People are. The world is created by men and whatever forces, talents are available to them. THE BLACK ARTS is where we teach you to master these natural tools of the self. No vague ghosts with pale tongues will tell you how they work their sorcerer’s tricks on you & if we are outlaws it is because we have stepped outside the circle of their “righteous” deception to determine exactly what our powers are. For us at THE BLACK ARTS the world is what we make it. THE BLACK ARTS is a school for the creation of a new world through the eyes of the artists and scholars, scientists and poets of this generation. Education whether it be the lessons of the street or the classrooms teaches you how to get some of the fruits of this earth for yourself.

THE BLACK ARTS is where we cultivate the black soil where those fruits will grow and be harvested. For Black Children, THE BLACK ARTS is where we show them their task as builders and creators of the planet, beautiful warriors gifted with the powers of creation. For the older generation we will show them their lives as guardians of THE BLACK NATION, protectors and teachers of the young.

The Black Arts will have courses in History, Art, Philosophy, Drama, Music, Political Science, Remedial Education and Job Skills. THE BLACK ARTS is your future as well as ours.