{"id":8214,"date":"2023-05-11T13:36:02","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T13:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=8214"},"modified":"2023-05-11T13:36:02","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T13:36:02","slug":"larry-james-touts-columbus-success-in-advancing-black-cultural-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/larry-james-touts-columbus-success-in-advancing-black-cultural-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry James Touts Columbus Success in Advancing Black Cultural \u00a0Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"
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AALP Board Member Bernadette Graham, Larry James, AALP Director Robert Smith, Tiffany Tarpley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Fletcher Word<\/strong><\/em>
\nThe Truth Editor<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As part of the effort to launch the Dorr Street Project, Robert Smith and the African American Legacy Project hosted a luncheon gathering on Friday, April 5 at the Toledo Museum of Art. Friday\u2019s guest speaker was Larry James, a Columbus attorney who has been immensely successful in establishing the city\u2019s MLK Jr. Center for Performing & Cultural Arts and leading the renovation of the Lincoln Theatre.<\/p>\n

The Dorr Street Project, as envisioned by Robert Smith, who founded the AALP almost 20 years ago, \u201cis a volunteer-driven effort designed with the expressed intent of telling the story of how this community evolved.\u00a0 The Dorr Street Project celebrates those who came before us with the hope of stimulating both young and old to search for the intersect where investment meets opportunity,\u201d Smith has written.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s event at the Museum\u2019s Glass Pavilion which was moderated by Tiffany Tarpley, WTOL-TV anchor, featured a welcome by Adam Levine, TMA president, and remarks by state Senator Paula Hicks-Hudson and U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur before the guest speaker James offered his thoughts on the successful development of a cultural arts center.<\/p>\n

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Robert Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Larry James has been part of the Columbus legal, business, civic and political scene for four decades. The managing partner of the law firm of Crabbe, Brown & James, he is a co-founder of the African American Leadership Academy, a board trustee for the Grater Columbus Arts Council, the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and the Columbus Urban League.<\/p>\n

In 1987 James accepted the challenge of putting together a community board in a way to establish an arts tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/p>\n

The cultural arts institution, James noted, \u201cstarted in a dilapidated [closed] school.\u201d His task was to first raise $2.3 million to renovate the building and then to get the Black community on board and overcome its skepticism about the project and his ability to spearhead it.<\/p>\n

First the board \u201cstarted community concerts to reinforce the neighborhood and create memories,\u201d said James. After the Black community was involved, the \u201ccommercial community eventually became involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

James offered a word of caution for those in his Toledo audience who wish to take on the same daunting task. \u201cThis word is going to be painful,\u201d he warned. \u201cGetting started in the Black community and then getting the majority community involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Larry James<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As painful as that almost two decades experience was for James and his board at the King Arts Center, he took on another similar task in 2008 when the mayor sought him out to renovate the old Lincoln Theatre, a one time Black-only theatre during segregation times, and turn it into a thriving performing arts center.<\/p>\n

Once again James used his connections to put together a stellar board and get the funds raised. Ultimately outstanding programming garnered the support of the community and now the Lincoln Theatre \u201cis the most utilized theatre in central Ohio,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2018 when the board started planning for a 100-year celebration of the Harlem Renaissance, they were able to bring together the city\u2019s black community in a way to showcase \u201cBlack art by Black artists.<\/p>\n

According to James, the Washington Post reported of the Harlem Renaissance project that \u201cNew York tried it but Columbus got it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The King Art Center and the Lincoln Theatre are about five minutes apart, said James, and just last year, Franklin County Commission Kevin Boyce, suggested to James that he would like to start a Black-owned bank in the same area. The bank, due to Boyce\u2019s leadership, opened last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we thought about in 1987 has happened,\u201d said James as he concluded his speech.<\/p>\n

Taron Cunningham, a Toledo urban planner, followed James\u2019 presentation with an explanation of the goals of the Dorr Street Project and the hope that it \u201cwill bring the heroes and sheroes of arts as a catalyst to a cultural corridor.\u201d That corridor, he said, will connect a \u201cbooming downtown\u201d with the vibrant University of Toledo campus on the other end of Dorr.<\/p>\n

A community Listening Session is planned for May 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Indiana Avenue Missionary Baptist Church to begin the process of obtaining community input.<\/p>\n

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Taron Cunningham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fletcher Word The Truth Editor As part of the effort to launch the Dorr Street Project, Robert Smith and the African American Legacy Project hosted a luncheon gathering on Friday, April 5 at the Toledo Museum of Art. Friday\u2019s guest speaker was Larry James, a Columbus attorney who has been immensely successful in establishing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[174],"class_list":["post-8214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8214"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8281,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8214\/revisions\/8281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8214"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=8214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}