The state of arts funding in Georgia is notoriously grim. According to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) in the United States, Georgia spends the least per capita on arts funding at just 14 cents per resident.
But to make up for that void in state support, a variety of public and private groups have stepped up to fund creative projects in Atlanta. One such initiative is Arts & Entertainment Atlanta, an economic development project managed by the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID).
Launched in 2020, A&E’s mission is, according to its website, “neighborhood activation and economic development,” using arts and culture to bring audiences to downtown Atlanta. Revenue from media companies with digital billboards in downtown, including Orange Barrel Media (whose Columbus, Ohio-based founder Pete Scantland is a collector and patron of contemporary art) and BIG Outdoor, funds A&E’s annual awards cycle.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
A&E’s fourth round of arts funding is its biggest yet with $198,000 awarded to 21 artists and arts organizations chosen from a record number of 100 applications. Artists are chosen for each grant cycle by a 5-member panel of local artists, curators, arts administrators and an A&E staff member.
“We actually increased the amount,” said Fredalyn Frasier, Project Director, Planning and Urban Design, of this year’s A&E awards, “because of the compelling work that we received. We just didn’t want to turn anyone away.”
This year’s grant winners are African Film & Arts Foundation Inc., Almost Gaia, Amber Enadeghe, Artist Forum, Ashli J. Washington, Bent Frequency, Bernard Jackson, ChopArt, Elsewhere, ensemble vim, Georgia State University’s Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design Gallery, Good Soil Production + Management, Fatou Bessem, Jimmy Joyner, Kiah Clingman, Lyrik London, Meaghan Novoa, Nathan Wallace, P. Faith Carmichael, Subsume and Sundiata Rush.
When it was launched in 2020 A&E’s first round of artist grants totaled just $50,000 given out to 7 artists and groups including, Ebony Blanding and Kris Pilcher. The 2020 grant cycle included augmented reality projects, dance and sculpture.
The art projects for this fourth iteration of A&E Atlanta run the gamut of disciplines and include film, classical music, outdoor art exhibitions and even a kind of variety show that urges voter participation in the 2024 election. Projects will be mounted from January through June at a variety of downtown Atlanta venues including Underground Atlanta, Woodruff Park, the pedestrian-friendly Broad Street Boardwalk area in the Fairlie-Poplar Historic District and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
Most events are free and open to the public (if ticketed, there must be a number of free tickets offered), bringing the arts out of concert halls and museums and, essentially, to the people.
Atlanta native Amber Enadeghe of Artistically Esoteric is one of the 21 artists who received grant money this year. Her Therapeutic Arts Initiative project, which occurs for 12 weeks every Saturday beginning in March 2024, allows participants the opportunity to make art including paintings, masks and mosaics. She developed the project to help people contend with grief or depression through creativity.
“I want you to use your imagination to get through things,” said Enadeghe of her motivation for creating the Therapeutic Arts Initiative.
“Mental health is something that still has a stigma” said Enadeghe. “A lot of people are not sure that they want to participate in formal counseling, but art has a way of really disarming people and giving them that safe space to learn how to express themselves, to articulate their needs and ideas.”
Like many creatives in Atlanta, finding money to execute projects is one hurdle for working artists. For Enadeghe the expense and lack of access to both art and to therapy are part of her mission for creating access through Therapeutic Arts Initiative.
“Looking for funding in the past has been a big challenge for me,” said Enadeghe.
“I do feel like A&E is creating an environment where our experiences and art are accessible to the greater community. And I value that so much because a lot of these experiences, people would have to pay a lot of money,” said Enadeghe.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Another grant recipient, Dedren Snead is the CEO of the design studio Subsume which has worked to bring more diversity to gaming and AI. For his A&E grant, Snead — who is originally from Snow Hill, North Carolina but has been in Atlanta for a decade — will create an interactive experience centered on Afrofuturism, a movement that melds science fiction and fantasy with African diaspora culture. Live sessions at Subsume’s headquarters in Underground Atlanta will feature Atlanta creatives in art, writing, poetry and mixed digital mediums.
“We see in technology the opportunity for Black and underrepresented voices to be a part” of the conversation, said Snead. “And so what we’re looking at is using things as simple as comics and video games, but then looking at things such as AI and machine learning, and teaching,” to incorporate these underrepresented people.
Laura Usiskin is part of ensemble vim, a contemporary chamber music collective that began in 2019. In March, as part of International Women’s Month, ensemble vim will perform in downtown Atlanta at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Their concert featuring flute, piano, voice, violin and cello will focus on female composers from Atlanta including Nicole Chamberlain and Sarah Gibson, as well as Alice Hong who will debut an original composition for the event.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Defying the stereotype that composers of classical music are limited to names like Beethoven and Mozart, ensemble vim also focuses on performing works by living, underrepresented composers.
“There’s a very vibrant composition community, in the country, in the world,” noted Usiskin. “And it’s a very diverse landscape. It’s not the dead white men anymore. It’s a very colorful landscape. And so it’s very exciting to play this music.”
The A&E grant money allowed ensemble vim to commission Atlanta composer Hong and will also allow the group to draw a larger crowd through advertising. “It’s going to give us more reach for this concert,” said Usiskin.
For Usiskin, the A&E funds are also an endorsement of their mission. “It gives us confidence that the community wants us,” said Usiskin, “that this is something that the community values. And so it makes us feel good about our mission that other people see the value of what we do and want to support us.”
