In late 2003, the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall launched a capital campaign to restore its 35,000 sq. ft. historic landmark facility. It is now $15 million later! Library & Music Hall programs, performance and services draw regional, national and international audiences. Our facility is beautiful, vibrant and beloved.
Watch our 120th Anniversary Video.
At the end of 2020, the ACFL&MH was awarded a very generous $1.25 million state grant for “Completing the Carnegie Carnegie.” The scope of this project is ambitious. We need your help to reach our goals.
Look how far we’ve come! Thanks to foundations, public funding and you, the ACFL&MH has raised $3.4 million towards Completing the Carnegie Carnegie!!!!
Library Park, opened to great fanfare in April 2022! It connects the Library & Music Hall to Main Street below via a walkway lined with benches and after-dusk illumination. A sparkling 117-ft. mosaic mural complements stately, mature trees and many smaller flowering trees. The Park draws people “up and in” to the ACFL&MH and helps position Carnegie as one of the region’s more attractive destination communities.
Our once waterlogged gym is now the Studio. A new entrance, theatrical and house lighting and acoustic treatments have transformed the old gym into an increasingly popular event and performance space with a club vibe. The versatile Studio hosts for intimate performances, Civil War Symposia, reunions and weddings!
A previously unimproved partial floor between the Library and Studio levels became the Mezzanine in January 2023. Though a compact 900 sq. ft., it dramatically expands Library programming. Some programs work better in an intimate setting These include: tutoring; tax help; teen and senior activities; ESL classes; supervised visits and not yet imagined community partnerships.
Furthermore, the Mezzanine greatly enhances the Studio as a rental space — a green room for performances and a lovely kitchen and staging area for parties.
What’s left to do?
Already renowned for its superb acoustics and historic ambiance, the Music Hall is poised to become the region’s finest performance venues. Upgrades include replacing knob and tube wiring; a new stage floor and house lighting; aligning the Hall with professional audio-visual standards; restoring and painting water-ravaged plaster. Air conditioning will delight audiences and performers alike!
We’re close. Let’s Finish!
In 2004, our community contributed $500,000 in just ten months to save our grand facility. The Library & Music Hall turns once again to you — people who love libraries, theater, history, architecture, green space, Carnegie Borough and the Carnegie Carnegie. We also welcome foundations and corporations to join the challenge of “Completing the Carnegie Carnegie.”
It’s time for us to finish the remarkable journey we began 20 years ago. Together we will reach our destination – a fully Restored, Revitalized and Sustainable Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall.
This last leg is a steep one, but the end is in sight.
Please contact Maggie Forbes at 412-276-3456, x. 8 or forbes.mj@gmail.com with questions about memorial or honor gifts, pledges, ideas or just to check on our progress.