National Center of Afro-American Artists

National Center of Afro-American Artists
Predecessor	Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts
Formation	1968
Founder	Elma Lewis
Founded at	Roxbury, MA
Website	http://ncaaa.org/

The National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA) was founded in 1968 by Elma Lewis to "preserv[e] and foster[] the cultural arts heritage of black peoples worldwide through arts teaching, and the presentation of professional works in all fine arts disciplines."[1] Although the greatest black center organization's name specifies African American artists, the organizational mandate includes all African diasporic art. The NCAAA is the largest independent black cultural arts institution in New England, United States.

History and Founding

The museum subsumed Lewis' previously launched Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts. Since 1950, the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts has served Boston citizens of all ages. Its alumni have distinguished themselves in the performing arts internationally. In the 1990s, the NCAAA completely renovated and expanded the 34,000 square foot building with its studios, auditorium, cafeteria, offices and classrooms. The school continued to serve as an educational and cultural center, it has been a hub of forums, receptions and civil programs of community interests.[2]

The NCAAA's strategic plan for its facilities offers a unique opportunity to strengthen black culture by strengthening its institutional base. This has not only benefited black people, it has benefited Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the nation. Miss Elma Lewis worked tirelessly to make the center a reality. She believed that "one must know one's past, because without a past there is no future."[2]

At its founding, the NCAAA was housed in a former firehouse in Franklin Park, Boston. The museum was moved to a separate building in 1980 and is now located at the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists.

Two fires in the early 1980s significantly damaged the firehouse, where the NCAAA was housed, although collections stored at the museum, which had its own facility, were unharmed.[1]

Harriet Forte Kennedy served as the assistant director of the museum for some time.[3]

Activities

Activities of the NCAAA have included:

Establishment and maintenance of a museum;
Hosting arts performances ("Black Musical Productions" and others) and exhibitions, individually and in collaboration with other fine arts museums in Boston;
Offering arts education programs to a variety of students (professional, community primary students, and local prisoners).

Publications

Gaither, Edmund (1970). Afro-American Artists: New York and Boston. Boston, Massachusetts: National Center of Afro-American Artists; Museum of Fine Arts.

References

NCAAA History Archived 2014-11-22 at the Wayback Machine
National Center of Afro-American Artists (1992). National center of afro-american artists: a permanent institution. Boston Public Library.
Jules Heller; Nancy G. Heller (19 December 2013). North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-63882-5.

External links

NCAAA website
The Elma Ina Lewis papers, 1917-1998 are located in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA.
The Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts records, 1954-1992 are located in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA.
The National Center of Afro–American Artists records 1924–1998 are located in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA.
The Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists records, 1966-1998 are located in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA.