Nearly 500 people gathered Aug. 12 in the Hill District to celebrate the first stage of the revitalization of the historic New Granada Theater and the opening of the University of Pittsburgh’s new Community Engagement Center, according to a community announcement.
New Granada Theater’s History and Revitalization
The New Granada Theater was once a cultural hub in the Hill District, hosting live music, dances and other events. The theater closed in the 1970s and later fell into disrepair. The building was purchased by the Hill Community Development Corporation in 1990. In 2016, a task force of regional leaders formed to revive the historic building and restore it as a community center, according to the announcement.
The University of Pittsburgh joined the effort soon after, announcing its Neighborhood
Commitment in the Hill District. The initiative is a long-term pledge to support the community and foster relationships between the university and local residents.
Community Engagement Center Programming
The new Community Engagement Center will focus on STEAM education, offering classes on digital literacy and coding. The center will also honor the New Granada’s history as a cultural hub, featuring programming by Pitt’s Jazz Studies department and its Center for African American Poetry and Poetics.
“Imagination is what turned a room full of believers into a building full of programming, like the STEAM task force and what we see now in the Pitt CEC,” Marimba Milliones, president and CEO of the Hill CDC, said at the opening event.
The Community Engagement Center is part of the University’s Neighborhood Commitments, which are operated through the University’s Office of Engagement and Community Affairs. The Neighborhood Commitments model was launched in 2018 with the first Community Engagement Center in Homewood.
This article by Gabby Sartori was created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Historic new Granada site reborn as hub for housing, business
