Janis Burley Wilson
PRESIDENT AND CEO | August Wilson Cultural Center
If you judge how things are going by dollar signs, the August Wilson Cultural Center is ending the year with a surplus, reports Janis Burley Wilson, who took over as CEO and president of the center in July 2017.
“That’s after a full year of so much programming that we’re kind of, ‘Phew!’ We are all really looking forward to a holiday break,” says the single mother of three. “But [the surplus] puts us in a good position going forward and is really exciting.”
In her time at the helm, the center has developed a new strategic plan and a new name that will soon go up on the Liberty Avenue building that was on shaky financial ground since it opened as the August Wilson Center for African American Culture in 2009.
Ms. Burley Wilson (no relation to the playwright), 53, was chosen to lead the way after local foundations united to maintain the center as a cultural, educational and community hub. In 2018, the AWCC has added board members and staff in key positions — managing director Ronald Lee Newman and former Pittsburgh Cultural Trust colleague Jocelyn Malik as director of development.
The team is operating with a mandated vision “to become a leading presenter of the arts and expression of the African diaspora, and a home for dynamic exchange of ideas that transform how people think about themselves and the world.” One goal is an exhibition to honor the man whose name graces the building.
The late playwright’s estate, scholars, visual artists and a tech firm are involved in creating an interactive display that will include August Wilson’s writing desk and other artifacts. “I want that to be the kind of destination for anyone who is interested in August Wilson, so you have to see this exhibit, it’s the coolest thing,” she says.
She’s also working with the African American Museum in Philadelphia to develop an artist residency program, and the center’s kitchen is being expanded to give it a boost as rental space.
Ms. Burley Wilson of Churchill studied at the University of Pittsburgh, earned her master of education degree at Duquesne University and had additional graduate studies at American University. She signed onto the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust in 2002, where she was a prolific events programmer.
Among the many hats she has worn, she sold her own hat designs through Janis B. et Al Millinery, which she founded in 1995. There’s quite enough to keep the AWCC leader busy these days, and she’s excited about bringing on Ms. Malik, her former coworker at the Trust.
“We share the same work ethic coming from the Trust, which is go-gogo,” she says, “so that’s my orientation to how you work in the arts.”