Harris Theater

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's Harris Theater is one of the most active arts facilities in the region showing art films nearly every day of the year.

Formerly known as the Art Cinema, the Harris Theater represents a milestone in the redevelopment of Liberty Avenue. The Art Cinema was the first moving picture house in Pittsburgh to commercially show art movies until competition from other city theaters led to its conversion to an adult movie house in the 1960s. As part of its mission to transform the Cultural District, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust purchased and restored the facility leading to further conversions of run-down properties along the Liberty Avenue corridor. With a total of 194 seats, including a fully restored balcony, the Harris Theater officially opened to the public for movies and live performances on November 9, 1995. The theater is one of the few that has retained 35mm film projectors that are utilized regularly.

The Harris was named through a gift from the Buhl Foundation after John P. Harris, co-founder of the Nickelodeon—the first theater solely dedicated to the showing of motion pictures—and a Pennsylvania State Senator. The Harris Theater features contemporary, foreign, and classic films.