For Culturvate Enterprises founders Briana White and Brandon Rice, the tour is both a business and a personal project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to give people an opportunity to experience something they didn\u2019t know,\u201d White says. \u201cI\u2019m all about making sure people are educated but also that they enjoy themselves while doing it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Building Culturvate Enterprises\u00a0<\/p>\n
Culturvate, founded in 2024, grew out of White and Rice\u2019s aspiration to create new experiences that felt intentional, inclusive and rooted in Pittsburgh\u2019s Black community. The company began with Culturvate Cruises, a boating business that hosts celebrations and private events on the water, before expanding the launch of its bus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
White, a longtime entrepreneur and food writer, is widely known in Pittsburgh for her work in the culinary industry. She previously wrote restaurant reviews for the New Pittsburgh Courier<\/a> and The Soul Pitt, competed in local cooking competitions and founded Wing and Mac SmackDown<\/a>, which highlights Black chefs, caterers and home cooks around the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rice, a Pittsburgh native who grew up in Columbus, Ohio, brings a background in business administration, health care, real estate and the arts. He is also a musician and performer who has appeared at events like the August Wilson Block Party.\u00a0<\/p>\n Together, they see Culturvate as more than an events company.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not just copying what already exists, we\u2019re always asking how we can make an experience better, more intentional, more meaningful,\u201d Rice says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Positioned as a symbolic center of Black Life, the physical history of Pittsburgh\u2019s Hill District has been thoroughly displaced. For White and Rice, centering the tour here was deeply intentional.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of Pittsburgh\u2019s Black history either came from the Hill District or passed through it in some way,\u201d White says. \u201cFrom musicians going to the Crawford Grill to churches like Bethel [African Methodist Episcopal], which is celebrating 200 years, this is where our story lives.\u201d<\/p>\n The tour will include a guided visit to the August Wilson House, honoring the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, and a stop at the New Pittsburgh Courier, one of the nation\u2019s most significant Black newspapers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rice emphasized that these institutions represent more than famous names.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople see August Wilson and think that\u2019s all of our history,\u201d he says. \u201cBut there were so many movers and shakers here \u2014 families, writers, business owners, whose stories were never fully documented.\u201d<\/p>\n Focusing on joy, not just loss<\/p>\n While many historical tours emphasize trauma and erasure, Culturvate\u2019s approach focuses on Black joy.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day we hear about death, violence and loss,\u201d White said. \u201cWe\u2019re so much more than that. We\u2019re not a monolith. I really want to highlight the positivity around Black Pittsburgh.\u201d<\/p>\n Through the structure of the tour, between stops, participants will hear music from Hill District artists, play trivia games and experience history as something lively rather than distant.<\/p>\n That framing allows for a shift in how Black Pittsburgh is being remembered and how their stories are being retold, specifically for younger generations who are seeking affirmations of life. By blending education with entertainment, the tour is making history accessible.<\/p>\n What may resonate and what may surprise<\/p>\n For many participants, the moments that may resonate the most may not be well-known landmarks, but personal discoveries. For Rice, the stop at the Courier carries a personal weight as his great-grandmother was a columnist for the paper. Discovering her work may help him to better understand his own family history.\u00a0<\/p>\n The tour invites others to have similar moments of reflection, to recognize that Black history in Pittsburgh is familial. That recognition may come as a surprise, especially for those who have lived in the city for years without ever encountering these stories.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t realize how deep and wide our history goes, and because so many neighborhoods were leveled, that history became disconnected from place,\u201d Rice said.\u00a0<\/p>\n A movement, not just a moment<\/p>\n The tour\u2019s name, Cultural Movement History and Heritage Tour, mirrors how White and Rice see their work fitting into a broader movement in Pittsburgh.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI really believe we\u2019re in a renaissance period again,\u201d Rice says. \u201cOur people are creating businesses, music, fashion, and we need a connection to our roots so we don\u2019t lose ourselves as the city grows.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That intentionality is central to Culturvate\u2019s Mission. Rice described the company\u2019s work as a response to gaps he has noticed in the Pittsburgh cultural scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf we don\u2019t do this work, who will?\u201d he says. \u201cWe feel responsible because we\u2019re able to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Cultural Movement History and Heritage Tour is not meant to be a single moment in February, but a starting point to remind Pittsburgh that Black history is still alive, evolving and being written.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sometimes the first step toward remembering is choosing to simply ride along.<\/p>\n Kamani Kegler is a senior at the University of Pittsburgh and one of the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation<\/a>\u2018s Chris Moore interns.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rice-and-white.jpg\")
Brandon Rice and Briana White. Photo courtesy of Culturvate Enterprises.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bethel-today.jpeg\")
Bethel AME Church, now located at 2720 Webster Ave., aka \u201cThe church on The Hill with the mountain top experience,\u201d in 2022. Photo courtesy of Bethel AME. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/crawford-grill-2.jpg\")
Crawford Grill No. 2 facade in 1975. Image courtesy of McBride Sign Co. Photographs, Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center.<\/p>\n