BATON ROUGE — The Lincoln Theater, a venue that once hosted artists like James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, is expected to reopen as a community center celebrating Black culture in December. 

According to The Advocate, the Lincoln Theater located on Mrytle Walk Street off Government Street, is expected to open sometime in mid-to-late December. A concrete opening date has not been set. 

The new center, the Louisiana Black History Hall of Fame Museum and Cultural Center at the Lincoln Theater, will transform the venue that opened in 1949 into a multi-purpose facility that will highlight both the past and the future of Black culture in the South. 

The building sat vacant for years until efforts were made to transform it over the past few years, with work beginning in earnest on the new community center in 2024. 

The Advocate reports that the project cost more than $4 million, with $760,000 coming from the city-parish’s Office of Community Development.