Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The way Kimberly Ellis sees it, the stunning end Monday to the long-running battle over the August Wilson Center for African American Culture could have been written by her famous uncle.
“This is in many ways a Wilsonian ending. The great public asset of art and the great contributions of black art have been returned to the public. That’s extremely important,” said Ms. Ellis, a niece to August Wilson, the late Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who grew up in the Hill District.
3 comments:
While I am excited that the AWC won't be closing down or shoved into the corner of a "luxury hotel," I would like to hear a specific plan from the city on what will happen to it now. They obviously can't go back to using the space as poorly as they were before and more importantly they need to find a way to make it a more valuable resource to the community. In the comment on the article someone brought up the idea of using it as more of a community center like the YMCA, so that it had daily programing and a regular presence in the community as well as the shows and exhibits it been running since its start. I think that if the city laid out a plan along these lines with clear long term benefits of having the center open then people would be more receptive to spending taxpayer's money on it.
This doesn't seem nearly as concrete as the title of the article suggests. Sure, a bunch of people bid a larger amount than some other people, but no one seems to know where the money's coming from, which is concerning to me. Sure, the organizations have almost a month to raise it, but that's an additional $1.3 MILLION, which is by no means chump change. While it's great that they were able to make a bid, this feels a little bit like the can has only been kicked down the road, not an actual resolution. Since all these different organizations seem to be saying that they aren't going to put up more money, It'll be interesting to see if they can get it together. I really hope they can raise the additional money, it would be a real shame for such a vibrant arts center and important addition to the city to close.
I commend the city, Allegheny county, and the various foundations that made it a priority, despite all monetary barriers, to rescue the August Wilson center from development, as August Wilson's name and work is so deeply embedded in the culture and history of the city.
When I first knew I was going to CMU, and subsequently Pittsburgh, I was extremely excited about living in the same city Wilson was inspired to write such great plays after. Having read and heard monologues of many of the plays in his Century Cycle I was excited to see the character of the city itself, which he so well developed through his writing. What's truly awe inspiring about Wilson's work is the way he embedded historical context, realistic characters and beautiful poetic language to create art that can resonate on some level with everyone. With this in mind it only makes sense to me that the people and foundations of Pittsburgh would fight to maintain the sanctity of the Wilson center as the theater he's created is so unrooted in the city itself. In reality I'm more surprised than anything else that the building got so close to being developed considering the renown and respect of Wilson's name. Even so as a fan of Wilson's work and new resident of the city, I'm mostly just relieved that all parties involved got together when needed most to preserve a significant part of Pittsburgh's culture.
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