Hella Theatre is our way to connect our community with artists we feel are meeting the moment, who have fought for our space to make art, and who overall are just dope ass people. Idris Ackamoor was one of the integral people to creating the SF Art Commission’s Cultural Equity Initiative. This is Part 2 of the conversation we started with Rhodessa Jones (co-founder with Idris of Cultural Odyssey).

Idris Ackamoor is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, actor, tap dancer, producer, administrator, and director. He is the Founder of the San Francisco performance company CULTURAL ODYSSEY and the Founder, Artistic Director of the legendary jazz and world music ensemble IDRIS ACKAMOOR & THE PYRAMIDS. Idris will be the project manager and collaborating artist for the proposed project offering “artistic practice and survival training and mentoring for aspiring, emerging, and mid - career performing artists.” Mr. Ackamoor just received a $50,000 Composer Commission presented by the Gebode Foundation. In December 2016 Idris received a THEATRE BAY AREA LEGACY AWARD presented to individuals that have made “extraordinary contributions to the Bay Area theatre community.” In 2015 he received THE SUI GENERIS FOUNDATION Achievement Award for “one of a kind contributions, which benefit society in unique ways”. He has been honored with TWO Lifetime Achievement Awards for his extraordinary musical and theatrical contributions. The most recent was presented in January 2012 by the renowned BBC radio personality Gilles Peterson at the Worldwide Awards Show in London. In 2003 San Francisco’s historic magazine, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, presented Idris with his first.