Overview  |  Eligibility & Process  |  Grant Recipients  |  FAQs  |  External Resources
2003 Recipients:
Click here for a listing of recipients from other years.

Academy Theatre
Founded in 1956, the Academy Theatre is the oldest professional theatre in Georgia, and the first to be racially integrated. It uses original drama and innovative theatrical techniques to address issues of ethnic diversity, social change, and interpersonal conflict. The Theatre creates and performs original plays for children and young adults, and trains teachers in creative learning techniques. One of the Academy Theatre’s most successful training programs, the Bullies and Bystanders program, trains middle-school teachers to cultivate leadership, motivation, achievement, and conflict-resolution skills among their students. Like many arts organizations today, the company currently faces an earned-income shortfall. The Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund’s grant of $25,000 will help the Academy Theatre reduce this deficit, so that it can begin to finance and make the transition to a new facility in Sandy Springs, where the Theatre will offer classes, present performances, and provide a community gathering place. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Actor's Express
Actor's Express, a 15-year-old theatre company, is known for its eclectic mix of classic, cutting-edge, and original plays and musicals. The company encourages its audiences to attend free events that facilitate conversation about the themes presented in each play. Actors’ Express also offers a full range of performance education programs, including public classes, internships, an extern company tour of area colleges, and special student performances on its main stage. For the past seven years, the company has presented the annual New Black Playwrights Festival. Actors’ Express will apply its grant of $37,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to offset current and projected budgetary shortfalls so that it may work toward hiring a new, full-time Development Director. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Art Papers
Through Art Papers magazine and public events, Art Papers promotes the exchange of ideas on contemporary art’s role in society and culture. Art Papers educate the public locally, regionally, nationally and internationally and provides exposure for metro-Atlanta’s visual artists and writers. Many of Art Papers’ free events allow Atlantans to engage prominent cultural figures in live conversation and events. The organization also lobbies local government to ensure adequate funding for the arts. Boasting an annual readership of 135,000, Art Papers magazine recently celebrated its twenty-seventh year of publication and enjoys a renewal rate of 75% (against an industry average of 45%). Art Papers’ greatest challenge is acquiring sufficient resources to support further growth. The organization will use its grant of $32,500 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to mitigate cash flow shortages. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


ART Station
From its Stone Mountain headquarters, ART Station celebrates the visual arts, literary arts, performing arts, arts education, and community outreach — showcasing artists from the local community and Georgia. Among its best-known events is the annual storytelling festival, A Tour of Southern Ghosts, which is presented to 15,000 participants for 17 nights in October. ART Station also maintains a professional theatre company that produces five plays a season and a gallery program that exhibits the works of local visual artists and craftsmen 14 times a year. Its educational programs include classes for children and adults; arts camps; the ArtTime Outreach Program in DeKalb Schools; ArtCore, an outreach program for Boys and Girls Clubs; and a program for the Metro-Atlanta Children’s Emergency Center. At present, ART Station’s most significant challenge is a lack of funding after 9/11 that has resulted in staffing layoffs and a deficit. ART Station will use its $60,000 grant from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to pay off its accumulated operating deficit. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts
The programs and services of the Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts (ACPA) are dedicated to nurturing and sustaining the performing arts in metropolitan Atlanta. The Coalition was founded in 1983 with the goal of encouraging a cooperative spirit among the Atlanta theatre community and raising awareness of the performing arts. Today the ACPA serves over 140 member organizations and over 360 member performing-arts professionals. In 1998, the ACPA opened AtlanTIX, the Southeast’s first day-of-show, half-price ticket booth in the Atlanta Convention and Visitor’s Bureau’s facility near Underground Atlanta. AtlanTIX has sold over 43,000 tickets since its inception. Among the ACPA’s current challenges are to restructure its Board of Directors to better meet the ACPA’s goals for growth and strengthen its efforts to generate adequate income. The grant of $16,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund will help the Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts to alleviate a projected 2002-2003 deficit arising from unexpected budgetary shortfalls. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center
The Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center promotes experimentation and excellence in the visual, performing, and literary arts. The 30-year-old Center provides access to resources and support for emerging and established artists from all over the world and creates opportunities for them to share their work with the public, including sales of artists’ books through Nexus Press. The Contemporary is proud of its ability to nurture emerging local artists while presenting their work in tandem with national and international artists. Decreased contributions, drops in sales from Nexus Press, and expenses associated with building purchase and renovations in the 1990s, however, added up to mounting debt for the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center and hampered its ability to enhance the national and international content of its exhibitions, artist books, and education programs. The Center plans to use its grant of $150,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to immediately reduce its outstanding debt. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Atlanta International Museum of Art and Design
The Atlanta International Museum of Art and Design is dedicated to the study of art and design and its impact on our daily lives. A non-collecting institution, the Museum presents highly contextual, interpretive exhibitions and public programming that explore the uses, structures, effects, and meaning of design and its communicative role in society. An affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum is one of only eight museums in the United States devoted exclusively to design, and wishes to establish itself as a well-known regional center. To implement its new vision, the Atlanta International Museum of Art and Design seeks to hire a new Executive Director, build its core membership, and to retire outstanding debt. The Museum also hopes to cultivate new and existing donor relationships, to aggressively market its already successful Museum Store, to expand its educational outreach programming, and to build a six-month cash reserve. The Museum will use its grant of $50,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to help retire its debt, so that it can focus on other strategic goals. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Atlanta Shakespeare Company
The Atlanta Shakespeare Company (ASC) began in the early 1980s with an annual event in the backroom of Manuel’s Tavern in Virginia Highland. Since then, the ASC has grown into a professional theater company that performs 47+ weeks per year in its own Elizabethan playhouse, The Shakespeare Tavern. Each season, the company presents at least 12 plays to 44,000 people—including over 18,000 students from more than 26 school districts. The ASC also provides professional actor training to core company members and offers an apprentice program to emerging theater artists. The ASC is known for actors who speak directly to the audience and authentic productions that feature handmade period costumes, live Renaissance music, live sound effects, and thrilling sword fights in a playhouse inspired by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. In 1995, the ASC became the first American company to perform on the stage of Shakespeare’s Globe in London, England. Since acquiring the Shakespeare Tavern building in 2000, and completed a successful capital campaign. The Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund’s grant of $40,000 will allow the ASC to build a facilities-maintenance endowment to protect this valuable asset. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Atlanta Young Singers of Callanwolde
The Atlanta Young Singers of Callanwolde (AYSC), the choir in residence at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in DeKalb County, trains boys and girls in choral singing and encourages each singer to develop individual responsibility and group cooperation. The 200+ Young Singers range in age from eight to eighteen and encompass five choirs. They represent 75 public, private, and home schools. Their repertoire typically comprises classical choral works, living composers’ pieces, and works from the American folk/oral tradition. By the end of each season, each Singer will have sung in at least four different languages and will have been exposed at least once to extended choral works. The AYSC seeks to make its programs accessible to students in a broader geographic area through programs in satellite locations. However, an operating deficit has reduced the organization’s operating reserve, making growth a stressful proposition. The organization will use its grant of $25,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to replenish its depleted operating reserve fund, so that it can move forward with its expansion plans. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Ballethnic Dance Company
The classically-trained professionals at Ballethnic Dance Company blend traditional ballet with other ethnic and cultural influences—including modern, jazz, African, and various forms of ethnic dance—to produce unique performances. The company was founded in 1990 by dancers Nena Gilreath and Waverly Lucas and remains Atlanta’s first and only black professional ballet company. The Company offers dance training to students aged three years to adult and has performed both nationally and internationally in Europe and the Caribbean. Ballethnic has recently worked to reorganize its management and to fill an administrative gap within its staff. In the course of the reorganization, Ballethnic decided it was imperative to pay off a second mortgage on the building it owns. Ballethnic will use the grant of $50,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to eliminate the second mortgage, repay a line of credit, and resolve other outstanding small loans so that the organization can concentrate on creating a working capital reserve. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Cobb Symphony Orchestra
The Cobb Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has served the citizens of Cobb County for 52 years. Since its founding in 1951 by the Marietta Music Club, the CSO has performed over 250 concerts, including 40 free concerts for 20,000 children. The CSO endeavors to provide an opportunity for the musically talented—regardless of age or occupation—to participate in the performance of great symphonic music, and to provide excellent music for the community’s enjoyment. The CSO consists of 55-60 volunteer players and a core group of 15 paid professional musicians. Thirty of these members performed at the 2000 Super Bowl Halftime Show as part of Walt Disney Entertainment’s “Millennium Orchestra.” Among the CSO’s challenges are its efforts to program concerts that both challenge musicians and appeal to its audiences, to recruit and develop volunteer players, and to strengthen its programming for educational outreach. To meet these challenges, CSO must overcome current financial limitations and short-term debt accumulated over several years under past management. The Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund’s grant of $30,000 will reduce the Cobb Symphony Orchestra’s debt and allow its new leadership to establish a small operating reserve. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Conyers Rockdale Council for the Arts
The Conyers Rockdale Council for the Arts (a non-governmental nonprofit) was established in 1989 as the sole provider of arts services for the Rockdale area. Today its reach has expanded to include the communities along the I-20 corridor from Lithonia (DeKalb County) to Covington (Henry County). During the past two years, the Council has offered community theatre; acoustic music concerts; a student-directed show; events for pre-schoolers; productions by senior citizens; gallery exhibits for local artists; art and acting classes; and improvisational comedy performances. Its ArtSmart Summer Camp offers a multi-disciplinary experience for children 6-13, and was the first art camp offered for children in the area for years. The camp has served as a cornerstone in a growing relationship with Rockdale County, which has agreed to provide classroom space for more art programs. Recently, the Council renovated its Conyers facility, Center Street Arts, which serves as a gathering place for community members interested in the arts. To help protect this investment and allow the Council to concentrate on program expansion, it will use its grant of $25,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to establish a building emergency/maintenance fund. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Dad's Garage
With its quirky improv, original works, and outreach activities targeted outside the spectrum of traditional theatre-goers, Dad’s Garage has excelled in developing a younger audience of theatre fans. Dad’s Garage was named Best Theatre by Creative Loafing for the past three years, and Best Improv Troupe for the past four. Artistic Director Sean Daniels has been hailed as “one of the top fifteen up and coming artists under 30” by American Theatre magazine. In 2001-2002, the Managing Director of Dad’s Garage took a board-approved sabbatical to attend the Vilar Institute of Arts Management. While this training was a good long-term strategic move for Dad’s Garage, it resulted in short-term limitations on the theater’s ability to meet fundraising expenses and manage expenses in its usual manner. As a result, the 2002 fiscal year ended with the organization’s first-ever operating loss. Dad’s Garage will use its $25,000 grant from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to reduce this deficit and reinforce its financial stability. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


The Georgia Ballet
For 40 years, the Ballet has sought to promote excellence in ballet, to foster public awareness and appreciation of dance, and to provide training and performance venues to dedicated and talented dancers through its professional dance company and a dance school. Each year, the Ballet presents a three-prong public performance series at the Anderson Theatre in Cobb County. The series showcases a repertoire of classic, “cutting-edge contemporary,” and original works. The company has also performed in other parts of the U.S., as well as abroad in Italy, Germany, and Holland. Some of the Ballet’s challenges include staffing needs, a budget that is inadequate to pay competitive salaries, a dearth of male dancers, shortened performance runs due to lack of funding, and, like many other non-profit arts organizations, an operating deficit. The Georgia Ballet will use its $25,000 grant from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to pay off its existing debt. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Georgia Ensemble Theatre
The Georgia Ensemble Theatre is the only professional theatre company in the Georgia-400 Corridor, where it serves the residents of North Fulton County and the north metro area. Founded 10 years ago, the Georgia Ensemble Theatre produces five mainstage plays per season at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center. The Ensemble also offers drama classes to children and adults, a drama day camp for K-12 students, an annual tour of And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank, and children’s theatre productions. The Ensemble designs, implements, and teaches theatre arts at the Cottage School, a private school for children with mild to severe learning disabilities, and teaches creative dramatics to Hispanic at-risk children. At present, the Georgia Ensemble Theatre is grappling with limited space and scheduling slots at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center and hopes to secure its own facility. The Ensemble would like to expand its offerings to meet demand but cannot due to a budget deficit and a lack of space. The Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund’s grant of $45,000 will allow the Georgia Ensemble Theatre to retire its deficit and to move forward into its next phase of growth. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Gwinnett Philharmonic Association
The Gwinnett Philharmonic Association is a professional orchestra that performs a broad range of music to the people of Gwinnett and the surrounding region. The Philharmonic seeks to offer programming that stretches its audience’s imagination while striking an effective balance between the familiar and unfamiliar. Each year, the Gwinnett Philharmonic performs a regular season of six concerts in the Performing Arts Center at the Gwinnett Civic and Cultural Center; free patriotic concerts in July in Duluth and Buford, and a concert at a local high school. Recently the orchestra expanded its regular season to include a “Philharmonic Presents” series, in which a range of talented musicians takes the stage at the Performing Arts Center. In the first season of that series, the Gwinnett Philharmonic presented a Christmas concert with a brass quintet, a percussion trio, and a pianist. Like many non-profit organizations, the Gwinnett Philharmonic Association is facing growing union expenses coupled with static revenues. A particular challenge to the Association is its current staff shortage. The Gwinnett Philharmonic plans to use its grant of $45,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to hire a full-time Executive Director. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Horizon Theatre Company
In its quest to serve as the Southeast’s gateway to professional, contemporary theatre, Horizon Theatre Company is especially concerned with supporting and developing new plays and playwrights. The Company strives to present “accessible and relevant” plays that are new to the region and to Atlanta. In 1999, Horizon launched the New South for the New Century play festival. The festival promotes emerging playwrights and presents new works from, for, or about the South. The festival includes New South PlayWorks, a week-long workshop in which playwrights refine their works with the help of professional actors, directors, and dramaturgs. Horizon’s outreach, education, and artist-development efforts include ensembles for teens and seniors and a playwriting program for elementary, middle-school, and high-school students. Due to decreased ticket revenues related to the current economy, Horizon Theatre Company is saddled with its first operating deficit. The Company will use its $103,000 grant from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to eliminate this deficit and replenish its capital reserves, so that it can proceed with strategic planning and infrastructure development. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


IMAGE Film and Video
IMAGE (Independent Media Artists of Georgia, Etc.) Film and Video promotes the production, exhibition, and public awareness of film and video as artistic forms of individual expression. Established in 1977 by a small group of Atlanta media producers and artists, IMAGE endeavors to build and support a thriving, independent, media arts community throughout Atlanta and the Southeast. IMAGE presents monthly film and video screenings and exhibitions; two annual film festivals: Out on Film: Atlanta’s Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and the Atlanta Film Festival; and over 45 educational workshops a year. IMAGE also offers its Media Education Initiative-Atlanta (MEDIA), a program for youth interested in film and video production; MediaMaker’s Salon, a networking meeting for Atlanta’s independent media community; a screenplay critiquing service; and fiscal sponsorships for approved media projects. At present, IMAGE’s greatest challenge to its growth is a need to expand awareness and increase funding in order to relocate to a renovated facility and move its successful and acclaimed film festivals to downtown Atlanta. IMAGE will apply its grant of $55,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to hiring a new Marketing/Public Relations Director. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Jomandi Productions
Jomandi Productions is a professional African-American theatre-production company dedicated to preserving and illuminating the African-American experience in the Southeast. A resident company of the 14th Street Playhouse, Jomandi Productions seeks in its productions to present African-American cultural experience and expression. During the 2003-2004 season, Jomandi will produce and present four plays, the Black Diamond Workshop and Development Series, and the Diamonds in the Rough Summer Theatre Camp, where children develop their creative skills through the performing arts, visual arts, and the written word. During the past two seasons, leadership challenges and fiscal difficulties forced Jomandi to cancel its last productions. A new Executive Director, the company’s first, has taken on the challenge of restoring Jomandi Productions to its former vitality. With its $44,000 grant from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund, Jomandi will reduce its current debt as the new Executive Director works to strengthen the organization. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art
The Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art seeks to inspire and educate the community by exhibiting, interpreting, and collecting excellent works of American art. The Museum is particularly proud of its outreach programs, in which Museum staff members visit community groups such as Girls, Inc. and local schools to discuss the art on display at the Museum or on site. Then, participants often create art that is influenced by the art they have just seen. A recently funded educational program called New Visions brings together three diverse groups: Girls, Inc. (mainly Latino and African-American girls), the Walker School (a private school), and the Winnwood Retirement Community. The Museum also offers art classes, a music series, and a store selling crafts by local artisans. Having recently emerged from a severe financial crisis in 2000 that threatened its existence, the Museum is now challenged with maintaining and increasing its hard-earned financial stability, with improving and expanding its exhibitions and educational programs, and with stabilizing its historic building. The Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art will use its $66,500 grant to hire a new Office Manager, who will help to ensure financial stability by performing bookkeeping and membership development duties in support of the Executive Director. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Moving in the Spirit
Moving in the Spirit (MITS) is a non-profit arts organization offering training and education programs for children and youth aged 3-19 in Atlanta’s urban neighborhoods. Since its founding in 1986, MITS has taught respect, commitment, accountability, and responsibility to Atlanta’s youth through the art and discipline of dance. MITS uses dance to develop life skills and workplace values, to reinforce school curriculum, to express issues pertinent to today’s youth, and to boost self-esteem. Ninety percent of its participants graduate from high school and go on to college or technical school. MITS also houses the Performance Company, a community-based modern-dance company. As its current performance space seats only 55, Moving in the Spirit sorely needs a larger venue to increase audience sizes and outreach capabilities. The Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund’s grant of $30,000 will allow MITS to expand its operating capital reserve so that it can proceed confidently toward a future capital campaign. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


PushPush Theater
PushPush Theater began in 1990 when a group of professional Atlanta actors began a series of studio workshops to develop and improve their artistic skills through a new means of collaboration: PushPush Theater. This theater encourages artists to explore new ideas and to take artistic risks that “challenge the status quo.” The company’s main aspiration is to contribute to a community that attracts artists from other cultural centers while retaining and developing existing artist talent. PushPush Theater’s programs include artist training and workshops, professional productions, audience education, and youth programming and outreach. The Theater also provides a venue for arts groups lacking their own facilities. Currently PushPush has a unique opportunity to move to a new location. The Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund’s grant of $25,000 will allow PushPush to accommodate continued growth by supporting the move and build-out of its new location. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


7 Stages
7 Stages is a professional theatre organization that focuses on social, spiritual, and artistic values in contemporary culture. Founded in 1979 in a storefront shop on Moreland Avenue, 7 Stages strives to support and develop new plays, playwrights, and methods of collaboration. In 1984, 7 Stages presented the world premiere of Rebecca Ranson’s Warren, one of the first plays in the U.S. to address AIDS. Its 1986 production of Bang Bang Uber Alles by June Jordan and Adrienne Torf prompted the first KKK rally in the City of Atlanta in 30 years. In addition to its productions, the company offers workshops and a playwright-in-residence program, and it rents both of its theaters to emerging Atlanta arts organizations who need performing space. One of 7 Stages’ greatest challenges is its need for long-term, committed, contributed support for its often-on-the-edge productions that sometimes can be too controversial for traditional corporate sponsors. The current economy has left 7 Stages at present with a significant projected deficit. The Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund’s grant of $65,000 will greatly assist 7 Stages in balancing its budget and continuing to help Atlanta audiences think about challenging issues. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Synchronicity Performance Group
Synchronicity Performance Group’s mission is to create compelling, diverse, and thought-provoking theatre with a focus on plays written by women to address social issues. This year, the company will perform three mainstage productions. In 2002, Synchronicity Performance Group produced its first children’s show, Free To Be, You and Me. This year will mark the return of that production, along with a new adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Also in 2002, Synchronicity Performance Group — in conjunction with the Wholistic Stress Control Institute — implemented a playmaking workshop with 30 girls detained at Metro Regional Youth Detention Centers. At each two-day workshop, approximately 20 girls aged 12-18 work with professional female artists to write and perform their own plays. Among Synchronicity Performance Group’s challenges have been finding an appropriate venue for its productions, recruiting actors of color, and increasing audience diversity. The company has also faced cash flow obstacles as it grows, and it seeks to increase the diversity of its board. Its grant of $15,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund will help Synchronicity Performance Group to establish an operating cash reserve to add stability to this three-year-old organization. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Theatre Gael
Theatre Gael is an arts organization dedicated to producing the plays, poetry, music, dance, and storytelling of the Celtic countries of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Celtic America. Its three main programming components include mainstage productions, its Crossroads series, and its WorldSong Children’s Theatre. The Crossroads series presents readings or short plays by playwrights of Celtic or Celtic-related origins. It also features productions by female playwrights. WorldSong Children’s Theatre promotes literacy and reading among students through workshops and plays. After 19 seasons in operation, Theatre Gael’s main challenge today is its need for more staff to support its education and outreach activites. The company maintains only one full-time position: its Artistic Director. Its Managing Director and Education Director work only part-time and struggle to meet the program’s demands. Theatre Gael, will apply its grant of $18,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund toward making the essential Education Director’s position full time. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


Theatrical Outfit
Theatrical Outfit entertains, educates, and enlivens its audiences by producing classic and contemporary theater with an emphasis on work indigenous to the Southern culture. Located in Atlanta’s historic Fairlie-Poplar district, this 27-year-old professional theater company produces a series of five theatrical shows a season. Since 1999, the company has served as the theater-in-residence at the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts, a Georgia State University facility. One of Theatrical Outfit’s proudest accomplishments has been its Reader’s Theater, in which literature is adapted into the dramatic reading form for young audiences. These productions inspire children to read by making literature come alive. In recent seasons, Theatrical Outfit has grappled with scheduling limitations at the Rialto Center due to high demand for the facility. Earlier this year, the company purchased a new building and is currently in the midst of a major capital campaign to renovate this new Fairlie Poplar venue. In anticipation of next year’s move, the company has predicted a $50,000 shortfall in revenue for the coming year. The grant of $50,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund will help Theatrical Outfit to remain financially viable as it prepares and moves into its new space. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


VSA arts of Georgia
VSA arts of Georgia provides people with disabilities and the economically disadvantaged with access to the arts. VSA arts of Georgia offers arts programming such as its Express Diversity! program, an arts-based curriculum that teaches students awareness of and respect for people with disabilities. By working with more than 50 arts and community organizations, VSA arts of Georgia distributes over 40,000 complimentary tickets each year to clients of Georgia’s human-services agencies. The organization also provides technical services for the disabled, including SightLines, which allows the visually impaired to hear non-verbal cues in a play, and StageHands, which provides theatrical sign interpreting for the deaf. VSA arts of Georgia maintains Arts for All Gallery, the only gallery in Georgia dedicated to promoting professional artists with disabilities. Due to decreases in federal grants and corporate support, VSA arts anticipates a revenue shortfall this year. The Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund’s grant of $25,000 will help VSA arts of Georgia overcome this anticipated shortfall and reposition itself to respond to changes in funding patterns. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^


WRFG 89.3FM
WRFG strives to provide a broadcast medium for communities that have traditionally been ignored by mainstream broadcast media, and to popularize and preserve indigenous forms of cultural expression. Since its first broadcast in 1973, WRFG has served as Atlanta’s only consistent provider of alternative radio programming. WRFG offers 92 hours per week of non-mainstream music, including blues, bluegrass, doo-wop, gospel from the 1930s-60s, jazz, house, alternative rock, and Cajun/zydeco music. The station also programs 38 hours per week of international music, including African, Latin, Caribbean, Celtic, and Asian-Indian music. Another 38 hours per week are dedicated to public affairs programs that allow community activists and organizations to discuss current events and social causes. WRFG’s greatest challenge today is its outdated equipment, most of which was purchased 30 years ago. WRFG will use its grant of $30,000 from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund to purchase state-of-the-art, digital production and studio equipment to support the delivery of its core programs and services and to comply with federally mandated standards of operation. (link)

^ Back To Listing ^
Learn More About Grants:
Grants Overview
Eligibility & Process
Frequently Asked Questions
External Resources

© 2007, Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund. All Rights Reserved.   | |   50 Hurt Plaza, Suite 449, Atlanta, GA 30303  p: 404.688.5525  f: 404.688.3060