Outgoing Atlanta City Council president named South Arts’ new leader
Douglas Shipman, outgoing Atlanta City Council president and former CEO of Woodruff Arts Center, will soon take over as South Arts’ new president and CEO, the organization announced Thursday in a press release.
Shipman will begin his position in the new year, starting Jan. 20, 2026.
Shipman succeeds South Arts’ prior president and CEO, Suzette “Susie” Surkamer, who served from 2012 until September. Board chair Gretchen Wollert McLennon has been serving as interim president and CEO.
In February, Shipman announced he would not run for reelection as president of the Atlanta City Council, where he had served since 2021. He wrote in a social media post that medical issues in his family had forced him to reevaluate running for a second term.
“These unexpected life changes won’t change a few fundamental things,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the time. “I will still be in Atlanta, I will continue to make serving our community a central part of my life in both public and private spaces.”
He is fulfilling that promise. He’ll soon be at the helm of South Arts, a regional nonprofit arts organization spanning nine Southern states that has been supporting the region’s cultural heritage and artistic vitality since 1975.
Through grants, fellowships and annual arts programs, the organization has aided art and artists in the South for 50 years. According to its annual report, in 2024 South Arts gave 426 grants totaling more than $4.6 million to both individual artists and arts organizations.
At a challenging time, when public funding has decreased at regional, state and national levels, arts funders are critical. In metro Atlanta, artists rely on a relatively small group of primary public funders, including Georgia Council for the Arts, Fulton County, the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and South Arts.
Shipman said he is looking forward to leading South Arts at a time when “the arts have never been more vital.”
“The recent growth and incredible legacy of South Arts provides the platform for helping guide the Southern region and entire arts community in finding new and innovative ways to sustain and grow artists and arts organizations,” he said in a news release. “I’m thrilled to join South Arts at a time of tremendous change and opportunity.”
Shipman is no stranger to heading arts organizations. Before being elected to Atlanta City Council, he served for three years as CEO of Woodruff Arts Center, the nation’s third-largest arts center. There he led a workforce of more than 1,000 employees, refinanced multiple bonds and secured roughly $10 million in annual capital and fundraising support.
Shipman was also the founding CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, where he led the design, fundraising, construction and grand opening of the downtown Atlanta museum, a roughly $100 million project.
“Having long-served in executive leadership in the nonprofit and cultural sectors, Doug is someone who keenly understands the vital intersection of civic life and the arts,” said Wollert McLennon in a news release. “His expertise in fundraising and strength in authentic relationship building assures us that he is the ideal candidate to lead South Arts into the future.”
About the Author
More Stories
Featured
