Tuscaloosa County to Buy Historic Bama Theatre, Preserving Arts Hub

The Tuscaloosa County Commission reached an agreement to purchase the Historic Bama Theatre and its adjoining office space on Greensboro Avenue from the Tuscaloosa County Parks and Recreation Authority for approximately $3.5 million, securing the future of a downtown landmark that has anchored the county's arts scene since 1938.

Probate Judge and Commission Chairman Rob Robertson, along with commissioners Stan Acker, Jerry Tingle, Mark Nelson and Reginald Murray, unanimously supported the purchase. The decision keeps the nearly 90-year-old venue under civic ownership and maintains the existing management partnership with the Arts and Humanities Council of Tuscaloosa County, which has programmed the theatre since the 1970s.

Sandy Wolfe, executive director of the Arts and Humanities Council, was direct about what the ownership transfer does not mean: "The county is not sweeping in and taking over the Arts Council, or anything like that." The Council, which also operates the nearby Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center and assists roughly 50 area arts organizations, will continue programming the Bama as before.

The theatre opened in 1938 as part of a joint city hall and theatre project funded by the Public Works Administration, one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is noted for its Art Moderne design, including an auditorium styled to resemble a Mediterranean courtyard under a starlit sky, with Italian murals reinforcing the atmosphere. The facility includes a roughly 1,000-seat auditorium, lobby and concessions area, an upstairs gallery, and basement and office spaces that once served as courtrooms and police offices when the building functioned as part of city hall.

The county said it will work with city and county schools to keep the Bama available for concerts, recitals, pageants and plays, continuing the range of programming the venue has long hosted. County leaders described the acquisition as preserving one of West Alabama's most recognizable cultural landmarks for generations to come.

With county ownership formalized, the Arts and Humanities Council's ability to maintain the 1938 facility, long a logistical challenge under PARA's ownership structure, figures to improve significantly.