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Meet Atlanta’s Newest Arts Leader
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Flora Maria Garcia, the new head of the Metro Atlanta Arts & Culture Coalition, starts her new job in a couple of weeks. I caught up with her during a recent home-hunting visit, and wanted to pass along some interesting things I learned about her.
First, some background: Garcia has worked in arts administration for 25 years and has boosted arts funding in several cities. In fact, the same day she announced she was leaving Fort Worth for Atlanta, the Fort Worth City Council approved an additional $630,000 for the arts council she headed. That’s significant because one of the gripes about MAACC is that it hasn’t found new funding for the arts, as many hoped it would.
Garcia was born in Cuba and came to the U.S. with her family at age 7. She trained as a painter and photographer and has degrees in art and business. Her former husband and the father of her two grown children is a professional artist. You can view his work here. She is clearly very interested in contemporary art. One of her first stops in Atlanta was The Contemporary, where she was impressed with the the artists’ workspaces and the galleries. Her significant other is landscape architect and urban planner James Toal, who plans to stay in Fort Worth but visit Atlanta often.
She says she was “aggressively recruited,” and finally agreed to come here in part because she believes in Mayor Franklin’s ability to get things done and is confident the mayor is committed to finding the $10 million for the arts she has promised. Garcia said Atlanta is “a community that is poised to do great things in the arts but hasn’t had the wherewithal yet.”
Garcia describes herself as an urban dweller who wants to be close to where things are happening in the arts. She plans to live in a loft and has narrowed her search to Midtown, Cabbagetown and Castleberry Hill.
I’ll provide a link to a full Q&A with Garcia soon (watch this space). In the meantime, what are your concerns about the arts in Atlanta? What would you like to see Garcia accomplish here?
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Arts venues
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By ILL-logical
October 17, 2007 9:01 AM | Link to this
(If the hubby isn’t coming then she ain’t staying;unless he is the next ex.) Let’s see how the financial picture plays out after the drought and then we can know what the next wave of art /culture ATL style will bring.
Otherwise welcome Ms. Garcia, best of luck!
By Kirsten Tagami
October 17, 2007 9:26 AM | Link to this
Like you, I thought she had remarried but she corrected me. Toal is her “significant other,” not hubby.
By BPJ
October 17, 2007 11:20 AM | Link to this
Here’s one concern: it’s all fine to talk about donations from government, corporations, and foundations, but where Atlanta lags the most (and where the greatest opportunity exists) is in giving by individuals. Atlanta’s not some TV show that you can just sit back, watch, & wait to see what “they” will do about the arts. Support your favorite theatre/museum/other nonprofit arts group, to the extent that you can.