Harold Washington Cultural Center - Today

Today

The center has not been successful by most measures. The center received $800,000 from Commonwealth Edison for the naming rights to the theatre for ten years before the center opened. The center had originally broken ground on what was to be called the Lou Rawls Theatre and Cultural Center, in 1993 and had accepted a $100,000 check from Lou Rawls's aunt, Vivian Carter, to help fund-raising efforts, during a second ground breaking in 1998. However, by 2002, in frustration of what should have been completed Rawls withdrew from and distanced himself from the project. Tillman insisted the delays were a function of her insistence that the project use at least 70% African-American contractors. The original plan to have a Blues District surrounding the Center never materialized.