Officially, the upcoming event is called "ELEVATE Atlanta."
Unofficially, it might better be described as “Justified Braggin’ On” Atlanta’s vibrant public arts scene.
"I feel like Atlanta raised me to be the artist I am today," Fahamu Pecou, the curator of ELEVATE 2015, told an appreciative crowd at a press conference held in the Atlanta City Hall rotunda Monday. "When I travel, I hear people say, 'Oh, Atlanta's a little New York' or 'Atlanta's a little some place else.'
"No, Atlanta is Atlanta," continued Pecou, a visual and performing artist whose work appears in some of the country's finest museums — and hottest TV shows. "Let's do something that celebrates her for who and what she is."
By all means, let's. Organized by Atlanta's Office of Cultural Affairs, ELEVATE is a free, weeklong event in which downtown is joyfully taken over by large-scale public artwork, performances and other cultural experiences. When it returns for its fifth annual version starting October 15th, not only will the "week" have been supersized to nine days (it all wraps up on October 23rd), so will its vision. For the first time, ELEVATE reached out for an external curator to set a theme for the event and choose all the participating artists and projects, said Office of Cultural Affairs director Camille Love.
They couldn't have aimed much higher — or scored a bigger hit — than Pecou. This year alone, the Emory University doctoral student has had paintings acquired by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture; featured in exhibitions at the High Museum of Art and Backslash Gallery in Paris; and, oh yes, on a couple of TV's most must-see shows, "Empire" and "blackish."
“We just asked him,” Love flashed a cat-who-swallowed-the-rising-superstar-grin and said of Pecou. “He brings just the best creative mind in the city today.”
It was Pecou who came up with this year’s theme, “Forever I Love Atlanta” (F.I.L.A.). And that love clearly knows few bounds, as some of this year’s projects will take over the entire side of a building — a massive “projection piece” of photos contributed by ELEVATE attendees that will changes nightly — or the inside of the Atlanta Streetcar.
And, maybe most brag-worthy of all, ELEVATE this year features the participation of Organized Noize, the legendary Atlanta-based hip hop production company responsible for TLC's "Waterfalls," as well as some of the most memorable music by Outkast, Goodie Mob, TLC and Ludacris.
It all started out in "Noize" member Rico Wade's mom's southwest Atlanta basement, which was nicknamed "The Dungeon." And at Monday's press conference, which featured an irresistible blend of artists, City Council members (Kwanza Hall, Ceasar Mitchell) and, well, "Dungeon" masters, Wade seemed beyond jazzed at the chance to help show how Atlanta really is Atlanta.
“I’m so excited, we’re getting to recreate the Dungeon,” Wade enthused about ELEVATE’S opening night exhibition, entitled “The Art of Organized Noize,” which he vowed would include the original basement stairs and some big-name star artifacts. “We’ve got some Andre 3000 and CeeLo stuff. We’re going to take you there!”
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