Bettye Franks Forbes
Director / Founder

      Bettye Franks Forbes, the founder and director of  The Ebony Ecumenical Ensemble earned her bachelor and master of music education degrees at Howard University, and studied choral conducting under the guidance of Evelyn White and the late Dean Warner Lawson.  A member of the National Music Honor Society, Phi Kappa Lambda, she is also an active member of the American Choral Directors Association and the Gospel Music Workshop of America.  She is the recipient of awards from numerous organizations, including Concerned Women of Brooklyn, the Religious Television Programming Organization, Key Women of America, Inc., the America Negro Spritual Research Foundation, and an award from the Celestial Community Choir.   She has inspired youth in choral music at secondary schools and colleges in North Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C.  She also presents joint workshops with her husband, the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr., Senior Minister of the Riverside Church in New York City.  Mrs. Forbes dedication to promoting the music of the African American religious experience is the hallmark of The Ebony Ecumenical Ensemble.