The judge recently ruled in favor of the Foundations and Urban Redevelopment Authority to save the August Wilson Center for African American Culture. But the struggle isn’t over.
This ruling gives the AWC another chance, but if they don’t find a way to make this center economically viable it will go under again because the Foundations and the government are not going to continue to throw money away.
The art people, Black culture people and other activists are to be commended for their effortless work to save AWC. If it weren’t for them, it would have been a done deal. But the mistake made in the first place was allowing the art people, and political activists to have complete control. There were no business people involved to make sure that the AWC paid for itself.
The actual programs were excellent. Sean Jones handled the music, Mark Southers handled the plays; Greer Reed-Jones handled the dance and choreography, and Pam Collier handling the PR. They did a great, great job, and I can’t see any other combination doing a better job. But the problem was they were either giving these shows away free, or for $15 to $25 instead of charging enough to make a profit. Whoever handled the AWC finance didn’t do it with making money in mind. All the auditoriums are small seating 100 to 300 people, which means $10 to $36 fees aren’t going to work.
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