The City of Atlanta announced the recipients of the 2017-2018 Contracts for Arts Services awards, administered by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. Each year, CAS awards general operating and project support funding to non-profit, community and neighborhood organizations, as well as project support to individual Atlanta-based artists producing work in the city.

The CAS program, which began in 1982 to support Atlanta’s thriving arts community, awards annual contracts related to the production, creation, presentation, exhibition and managerial support of artistic and cultural services in the City of Atlanta.

“Supporting local artists, dancers, film makers, theater companies, musicians, museums and galleries continues to be a priority for the City of Atlanta,” said Camille Russell Love, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. “Our goal is to expand cultural opportunities for Atlanta residents and visitors by enhancing arts programming that addresses the needs, interest and cultural diversity of our community.”

During fiscal year 2018, grants totaling over $1 million will be awarded to 17 individual artists, 60 arts organizations and 13 community and neighborhood organizations in the City of Atlanta.

This year’s grant recipients include: BronzeLens Film Festival (for annual festival of local, national and international works focusing on the stories by and for people of color); VSA Arts of Georgia Inc. (supporting distinctive technical services by StageHands program – American Sign Language interpreting specifically for arts and performance events); C4 Atlanta (for funding to offset tuition cost of professional development that focuses on the "business" side of art, artists can match artistic goals with personal & professional goals); Carrie Steele-Pitts Home Inc.  (for youth art programming to focus on visual art, African dance and improvisational theatre); the artist Althea Brown (for a multi-media Ft. McPherson oral history project) and Dashboard (for large-scale exhibitions, programs and artist projects).