Talent is thriving in Alpharetta. Arts Alpharetta is one of 10 support organizations partnering with the city’s Recreation, Parks and Cultural Services department to help make the city a cultural destination.
“Arts Alpharetta was created many years ago directly in partnership with the city as they were redesigning their downtown area and re-envisioning what that was going to be like,” said Arts Alpharetta President Nancy Murphy. “As a nonprofit organization it was a partner with the city to apply for grants and things like that. Since that time, it has morphed into an agency that helps with volunteers and facilitating opportunities for artists. We are blessed to have a partner in the city.”
The group’s first big initiative was the juried temporary outdoor sculpture exhibition.
“This all happened about 2018. The art center opened, we created a history museum and the outdoor on-loan sculpture project,” said Alpharetta Cultural Services Manager Kim Manning. “As the city was growing and creating a downtown, they wanted to have a presence of visual arts.”
The current exhibit, Medley, consists of five sculptures that are mingled among other permanent pieces to create the Alpharetta Arts Walk Tour. A call for the next round of artists will go out in January with new sculptures placed sometime mid-2024. Murphy anticipates reviewing about 100 applications.
The city’s community development also requires developers to have a public art piece.
“It can be a mural, it can be a sculpture, whatever fits the scope of their development,” said Manning. Arts Alpharetta helps curate those ideas to help developers conquer any potential obstacles before their public art plan goes before the Alpharetta Arts Commission and city council for approval.
Among the group’s many other projects is an ongoing effort to engage artists to paint crosswalks at all city-owned parks and recreation centers as well as their oversight and management of several galleries throughout the city.
“Our goal is to always bring in as many artists as we can and to get the community to come inside and engage,” said Murphy.
On a more educational level, and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Arts Alpharetta has created a special initiative that supplies free art kits to children.
“When COVID shut the world down that [existing art programs] all stopped,” said Murphy. “We as a board sat and looked at each other and said we’ve got to do something. We took Chick-fil-A’s model and figured out pretty quickly how we could deliver art activities to people in a contact-free environment.”
The program, which supplies nearly 500 kits to children each year, has become highly valued by parents and local elementary school counselors who help identify children in need or in transitional housing that might benefit most from free art supplies.
While most of the group’s funding comes directly from the city, Take Out Art is graciously paid for by donations and the Rotary Club of North Fulton.
“We [the city] fund the majority of Arts Alpharetta activities,” said Manning. “We value their opinions and their direction.”
Keep up with Arts Alpharetta at www.artsalpharetta.org.
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