Black Academy of Arts and Letters move to Fair Park initiates renovation project

Plans are moving forward to overhaul Dallas’ Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

The Black Academy of Arts and Letters is included in the multibillion-dollar project and will temporarily relocate while improvements are made.

At the corner of Canton and South Akard, major changes are on the horizon. Curtis King, founder and president of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, reflected on what this will mean for years to come.

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“We’re here today asking for your continued support for this massive plan for the convention center,” King said.

Decades of historic performances and renowned visitors are commemorated throughout the halls of TBAAL, which will begin moving into its temporary home, the Women’s Museum at Fair Park.

“People need to see the bigger picture and the broader dreams,” said King. “There’s promise, there’s hope, there’s excitement, and there’s enthusiasm.”

It’s a welcome move as part of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Master Plan, a $3.7 billion improvement. City leaders said it was critical to ensure the convention center’s overhaul included renovating The Black Academy of Arts and Letters.

City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said it fits into the broader plan of positioning Dallas as a premier arts and cultural destination.

“We’re not just working side by side to move this vision forward. We’re moving forward hand in hand,” said Tolbert.

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The city’s Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee helped shape the timeline, logistics and cost of what has been dubbed Component 4 of the master plan.

City officials said the Women’s Museum at Fair Park was chosen, in part, because it offers an opportunity to use and rehabilitate an underutilized city asset. It is also seen as a centralized location with easy access to DART.

Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Moreno told NBC 5 that dozens of meetings went into getting the move and renovation right in the coming months and years.

“This isn’t only about a destination or visitors and tourists, but it was also about a way back to the residents that live here in the city of Dallas,” said Moreno.

The academy will remain at Fair Park throughout 2026 and 2027 as renovations on Canton Street are completed in three phases. King said completion of the renovation will be part of a vision fulfilled.

“When the people on the city council made a decision to put us here, we have to say they made a good choice. Thirty-eight years later, we’re still here,” he said.

The Black Academy of Arts and Letters is expected to move into its new, updated facility in 2028.