No city is great without the arts.
Arts breathe vibrancy into urban spaces. They celebrate diversity, provoke thought, inspire change, break down barriers, and foster a sense of shared identity and belonging.
Atlanta is the cultural capital of the South.
Imagine how great Atlanta could be if our arts organizations were fully capitalized.
Art Matters, Atlanta
WE ARE A REPRESENTATIVE COLLECTIVE OF ARTS ORGANIZATIONS, INCLUDING THEATER, MUSIC, DANCE, & THE VISUAL ARTS, FROM ACROSS THE METRO-ATLANTA AREA.
Full capitalization of the arts in Atlanta can be achieved by means of unprecedented collaboration between patrons, grantors, and governments.
It will require a historic investment in the city’s arts ecosystem, but will make Atlanta better and create a model to inspire other urban centers.
After all, Atlanta influences everything.
Current Situation in Atlanta
For too long, Atlanta’s artistic community has operated on a scarcity model.
Georgia ranks 50th in the nation in state arts funding, spending only 14 cents per person on the arts.
The lack of funding hinders our individual and collective abilities to serve deeply, fully embody our missions, innovate despite the risk of failure, and reach the full potential of the talented artists with whom we work.
The pandemic exacerbated this situation. If we are to continue to be the cultural capital of the South, we must invest in the arts at a much higher level. Read our open letter about this situation.
The Ask
We are asking the funding community—both local and national—to engage with us as we create a new model of a fully capitalized arts ecosystem that democratizes the arts across this city.
We need both private and public institutions to show up for the arts. Private foundations and donors can also help fill in the gap. Now is the time to dig deep to support arts and cultural groups in Atlanta with unrestricted dollars. That’s exactly what we need as we create new models of financial and artistic success.
The Need
Atlanta’s arts organizations are severely undercapitalized. Funding for the arts in Atlanta, and the state broadly, has never matched its unbridled talent. Very little national funding for the arts is distributed in Atlanta, and we are rarely recognized in the national press for the cultural capital that we are.
Post-Covid, audiences are slow to return. Costs are rising. Pandemic relief funding is ending. And support from other private and public sources is increasingly uncertain.
The Situation Across the U.S.
The American Alliance of Museums reported in June 2023 that two-thirds of surveyed museums report attendance 29% below pre-pandemic levels.
TRG Arts reports theaters are the hardest hit and slowest to recover among the performing art sectors it studies, in terms of tickets, ticket revenue, and number of donations.
Atlanta can buck national trends and bounce back from these challenging times as a beacon for the future. Our arts industry is relatively small for a large city. A manageable investment can completely change the trajectory of our community.
WHEN ARTS ORGANIZATIONS THRIVE, SO DOES ATLANTA.
We amplify Southern voices: the South got something to say.
We generate new ideas.
We nurture and educate youth.
We increase social cohesion and build community culture.
We inspire innovation.
We employ 5x more people than tech companies.
We provide spaces to explore social justice issues.
We attract tourists.
We help companies retain and attract workforce talent.
We provide job training.
We invigorate urban spaces.
We improve mental and physical wellbeing.