The African American Cultural Center
350 Masten Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209
The Inside Scoop
Dance & Drum Performance Company
The AACC Dance and Drum Performance Company is the agency’s founding component.
AACC founder Malcolm Erni believed that knowledge and understanding of traditional West African rhythm and movement could help to revitalize his beloved East Side Buffalo, NY community. Its mission is to provide authentic cultural exchange as a means of educational enlightenment.
“This has been the entity in my life that has sustained me: morally, spiritually, and of course artistically. Drumming is the joy of my life.”
The Paul Robeson Theatre
The Paul Robeson Theatre is the second oldest component of the African American Cultural Center.
It was founded in 1968 to nurture and showcase the talents of African American playwrights, producers, directors, actors and stage technicians in the City of Buffalo and the surrounding Western New York region.
“Using the medium of theatre to promote social change, especially through their work with young children.”
Youth Educational and Cultural Enrichment Programs
The AACC Cultural Enrichment Program is designed to cultivate and optimize the untapped potential of the African American community and other diverse neighborhoods that often are underserved by mainstream infrastructure. Its curriculum is designed to motivate personal growth and includes instruction in African Dance, African Drumming, Theatre and Video Production and African History, among other subjects.
“A place where young people didn’t have educational facilities and could now learn their craft, could be taught, could be on stage, could dance. That is the African American Cultural Center. ”
The Annual
Pine Grill Jazz Reunion
For the first two weekends in August the AACC presents the Pine Grill Jazz Reunion to honor the local, national and international artists who carry the jazz tradition forward. For 23 years the free concerts have celebrated diversity through tribute to its truest American form – the legacy of jazz.
“The Jazz Reunion––what should really be called a celebration––has been going on for over two decades and I make sure to bring my family and myself to every single one of them. It’s what I look forward to every summer. ”
August Wilson Monologue Competition
In the competition, students performed monologues from the 10-play Century Cycle. Wilson’s Century Cycle is a singular achievement in American theater that chronicles the 20th century African-American experience. At the plays’ core are these lyrical monologues that take the song, laughter, pain, and rich content of African American life and place it in the mouths of the greatest ensemble of characters written since Shakespeare.