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.
So before any programming is planned for the AWC a team of money people needs to be assembled to figure how they can have Black cultural events but still pay the employees, and the artists performing. And it has to be made clear to the general public that even though this is a Black arts center, in order for it to stay in business it must be treated as a business. This means coming out of your pockets in supporting the programs presented at the AWC.
So hopefully after the celebrations are over, everyone involved will make it a priority to create a board that can create a balance between Black cultural art and paying the expenses of creating that art and keeping the doors open. Because if the foundations, city and county government have total control, why did we save it?
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Congratulations go out to the Hill House Association for recognizing the Freedom House Ambulance Services for its pioneering work in Emergency Services. I wonder what is the percentage of Blacks being hired by cities throughout the country, Pittsburgh in particular?
The Night Blue Performing Arts Company premiered “Clemente: The Legend of 21” at the Byham Theater recently which brought back memories of the greatest player in Pirates history. The greatest Pirates of all times are Clemente, Willie Stargell, Honus Wagner, Barry Bonds and Pie Trayner, even though Bonds greatest years were with the San Francisco Giants.
I never saw Clemente play in person, he died the year before I came to Pittsburgh, but I saw him on TV and read a lot about him. Joining the Pirates in 1956 he was the second Black player to play for Pittsburgh, and the first Black star. He faced a lot of racism during his years in Pittsburgh especially the first few years, which is probably why he struggled his first four years in the league. But from 1960 until his death in 1972 he was one of the greatest overall players in the game. And on defense he had no equal, bringing home 12 consecutive Golden Gloves as the league recognized him as the best defensive right fielder in the game. Even though he didn’t hit for great power, he was one of the greatest pure hitters the game has ever known, winning four batting titles and hitting over .300 almost every season in the Majors.
But he wasn’t just a great player, he was a great human being as he worked tirelessly in helping the less fortunate in his country of Puerto Rico improve their lives. This is what led to his death. His plane, which was probably overloaded with food and supplies to help Nicaragua earthquake victims, went down on its way to take that help to Nicaragua.
I’m just wondering why it took 42 years for someone to do something on this great player.
Another great book/play would be on Willie “Pops” Stargell, who was probably the most popular player in Pirates history. Which really says something considering how Clemente and the man who replaced him in right field, Dave Parker, were treated because they were Black. Yet Stargell was a great Black player loved by just about everyone. Yes, he was a great person, but so were Clemente and Parker. Stargell played with Clemente in the late ‘60s, and early ‘70s. So things changed but remained the same.
(Ulish Carter is managing editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier. Email him at ucarter@newpittsburghcourier.com)
