Steve Hofstetter’s Steel City Arts Foundation transforms church into arts hub

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A widely known comic has plans to make Pittsburgh a comedy city. 

Steve Hofstetter is a comic recognized everywhere in the world. He was born and raised in New York however just lately moved to Pittsburgh after residing in Los Angeles. 

He introduced his ardour mission, the Metal Metropolis Arts Basis, together with him to the town. In 2021 in Stanton Heights, he purchased an previous church, which included a three-bedroom home subsequent door.

He is spent the final two years reworking it into the muse’s hub, which features a state-of-the-art studio and residential for artist residencies.

“That permits for mentorship, use of kit, which quite a lot of comedians after they’re beginning out, cannot afford cameras, cannot afford lighting, cannot afford the issues you must produce an impartial present, produce internet content material, issues like that,” Hofstetter mentioned.

It is all funded by Hofstetter’s pockets, donations and fundraising. 

It has been quite a lot of work, however the basis’s success in giving aspiring comedians and different artists a platform has already been well worth the funding for Hofstetter.

He would additionally like to make use of the constructing as a group artwork house and host small-scale, alcohol-free performances. However earlier than that may occur, there are some zoning hurdles he has to clear. There isn’t any timeline on that half but. 

Within the meantime, Hofstetter’s basis has been doing every kind of stuff round city, together with producing exhibits, taking pictures a movie, and planning a comedy pageant this June.