The Carver Theatre, now formally known as the Carver Performing Arts Center, is a

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

located in downtown

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% f ...

. In its days as a

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

theater, it was best known as a place where

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

s could see first-run movies; during that time, only

whites White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...

were allowed in most theaters because of

segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of humans ...

laws. The Carver is now a live performance venue which seats 527, and is also the home of the

Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (AJHF) was founded in 1978, and opened a museum on September 18, 1993, with a mission "to foster, encourage, educate, and cultivate a general appreciation of the medium of jazz music as a legitimate, original and dis ...

History

Located on the corner of Fourth Avenue North and 17th Street North, the Carver was opened in 1935. A 1945 renovation equipped the Carver with many new features, including 1,300 of the latest model theater chairs,

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

, and improved sound and projection, as reported by

The Birmingham News ''The Birmingham News'' is the principal newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The paper is owned by Advance Publications and was a daily newspaper from its founding through September 30, 2012. After that day, the ''News'' and its tw ...

. The Fourth Avenue area was a business and entertainment hub for the city's black community, and was also the location of many events in the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. As with most downtown theaters, the Carver's fortunes declined over the years. In later years, the theater showed

pornographic movies Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include erotica ...

, and the facility closed sometime in the early 1980s. The City of Birmingham, seeking to improve the area where many events of the Civil Rights Movement took place, purchased the Carver in 1990 and remodeled it for live performance use, with an eye toward remembering the Carver's place in the African-American Community. One of the planned uses was a home for the

. Since its reopening, the Carver has hosted many events such as the Taste of 4th Avenue Jazz Festival, and the annual AJHoF Student Jazz Festival, as well as performances by Duke Ellington Orchestra,

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles ...

Diana Krall Diana Jean Krall (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, ''Billboard'' maga ...

Lou Marini Louis William Marini Jr. (born May 13, 1945), known as "Blue Lou" Marini, is an American saxophonist, arranger, and composer. He is best known for his work in jazz, rock, blues, and soul music, as well as his association with The Blues Brot ...

, the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, Ray Reach and the

Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars (AJHoF All-Stars) is a working jazz ensemble, featuring some of the finest jazz musicians Alabama has to offer. This group is the faculty of the Jazz Education Department of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and t ...

Gregg Karukas Gregg Karukas (born 1956) is a smooth jazz pianist from Maryland who first gained notice in Washington, D.C., then moved to Los Angeles in 1983. He backed Melissa Manchester before he co-founded the Rippingtons in 1985. He experimented with ...

, the Tom Joyner syndicated

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

show, and many other notable performers. The Carver also hosts touring theatrical productions and numerous concerts and educational events sponsored by the

. The theatre is now a part of the

Birmingham Civil Rights District The Birmingham Civil Rights District is an area of downtown Birmingham, Alabama where several significant events in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s took place. The district was designated by the City of Birmingham in 1992 and cove ...

References

External links

Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
official web site
The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars
at All About Jazz
2007 Taste of 4th Avenue Jazz Festival website
{{coord, 33.514888, -86.811849, type:landmark_region:US-AL, display=title Buildings and structures in Birmingham, Alabama Jazz clubs in the United States Tourist attractions in Birmingham, Alabama Performing arts centers in Alabama 1935 establishments in Alabama Theatres completed in 1935 Historically African-American theaters and music venues vi:Nhà hát Carver

History

See also

References

External links