Pa. Foundations Join in Bid to Save Pittsburgh Arts Center

A group of philanthropies led by the Pittsburgh Foundation is collectively bidding to buy the financially battered August Wilson Center and preserve it as a hub for African-American culture, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The consortium of local foundations submitted an offer last week to the conservator charged with selling the downtown Pittsburgh building to pay off the center’s $7-million debt. A spokesman for the Pittsburgh Foundation declined to name other members of the group but said it aims to “safeguard [the center’s] purpose as the pre-eminent community resource for African-American arts programming.”

The nonprofit venue, named for Pittsburgh-born, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, has struggled financially since opening in 2009 and was turned over to a conservator last fall after the bank that holds the center’s mortgage began foreclosure proceedings. Several area groups are believed to have submitted bids on the property before a March 31 deadline, according to the Post-Gazette.