THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Along with honoring the most outstanding talent within the African American interdisciplinary arts community, the Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Joel Hall, Founder and Artistic Director of the Joel Hall Dancers and Joel Hall Dance Center. Founded in 1974, the mission of the Joel Hall Dancers and Dance Center is to use the arts to enrich the lives of its community through dance performance and education. Both JHD and JHDC exhibit a rare diversified spectrum of members who have various cultural, ethnic, racial and socio-economic backgrounds.

The Black Excellence Awards is one of the most anticipated awards ceremonies of the year and its purpose is to highlight and celebrate the strength, viability and productivity of the African American Arts community. The Black Excellence Awards is produced by The African American Arts Alliance of Chicago which is a not for profit professional service organization whose membership includes organizations and individuals from the fields of theaters, dance, music, literature and visual arts. The mission of the African American Arts Alliance is to increase public awareness, interaction, communication and development of African American arts organizations and artists within the City of Chicago. The African American Arts Alliance serves to increase awareness of the strong economic and educational impact that the activities of the membership sustain within the City of Chicago. The African American Arts Alliance is the producer of The Black Excellence Awards, while the award recipients are determined solely by the Black Excellence Committee a committee of the Alliance.

The Black Excellence Committee

The Black Excellence Committee is a 30 member committee of the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago. The committee is made up of community members who are patrons of the arts. The purpose of the committee is to establish criteria in which to judge the excellence of individuals within the artistic mediums of theater, dance, film, literature, visual arts and music. It is the role of the committee to design and implement a judging process in each artistic area which will result in the nomination and selection of specific individuals to receive The Black Excellence Awards. Black Excellence Awards are judged and chosen solely by The Black Excellence Awards Committee.

Tickets for the Black Excellence Awards are $40.00 for adults and $20.00 for children under 12 and are available by visiting the African American Arts Alliance website at www.africanamericanartsallianceofchicago.com or by calling 773-754-3923.