A Celebration of Metro Atlanta's Arts and Culture
This video, featuring music scored by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, showcases the region’s arts & culture opportunities.
Metro Atlanta Cultural Assessment
Both ARC’s Atlanta Fifty Forward and PLAN 2040 underscored the value of arts and culture to the metro Atlanta region. In response, the ARC Board emphasized the importance of implementing plan directives that include "systematic annual data collection and analysis regarding the development of the creative economy in Georgia” and the development of a regional cultural master plan. However, few precedents exist that demonstrate comprehensive regional cooperation to foster arts and culture. To that end, the Atlanta Regional Commission contracted the Metro Atlanta Arts & Culture Coalition from July to December of 2011 to conduct research and prepare a report related to arts and culture in our region.
Research activities included:
- Cultural forums in each of the 10 metro counties
- Inventories of non-profit cultural groups and cultural facilities
- An overview of for-profit “creative industries” in the region
- An overview of cultural plans, agencies, policies and ordinances in the region
- Samples of “regional” cultural agencies and cultural plans
- Potential funding sources for a future regional cultural master plan
Each cultural forum explored the role of arts and culture in economic development, quality of life, education and regional cooperation. Participants were also asked to identify the infrastructure and resources needed to support a thriving cultural community for the region.
This report provides ARC with a clear snapshot of the cultural industry in the region and allows for a comparative analysis between the Metro Atlanta region and competing regions. The data gathered provides a benchmark that can be updated on an annual basis and lays the groundwork for a future regional cultural master plan. The research and input gathered in the cultural forums also helps to identify opportunities where the role of arts and culture could interface with ARC policies and areas of focus.
County Cultural Summaries
The Metro Atlanta Cultural Assessment analyzed detail at the county level, and the results for each county are summarized in the documents below: