The Atlanta Regional Commission today announced that 27 arts, culture, and civic leaders have been selected to participate in the 2023 Culture and Community Design program. These leaders will meet between May and December and work in groups to help further the strategic goals of two community arts organizations:

The African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA), an innovative museum showcasing contemporary art and culture of the African diaspora.
Full Radius Dance, a dance company that brings together disabled and non-disabled dancers through performance, education, and advocacy to address community needs through culture-focused planning and design initiatives.

The Culture and Community Design program is a new effort at ARC that builds on the agency’s past arts leadership program, the Arts Leaders of Metro Atlanta, or ALMA. The revised program provides a more immersive, hands-on experience for a broader diversity of participants that includes artists, culture-bearers, planners, designers, and government officials.

Critically, the Culture & Community Design program (C&CD) focuses on strategic engagement with small, arts-focused organizations that don’t have the resources for these kinds of efforts.

“We are excited to launch our newly designed C&CD program, which focuses on communities that are too often excluded from the regional planning process,” said Roshani Thakore, Head of Community Engagement & Arts Program at ARC. “We’ve designed the program to provide an inclusive learning space with artists, planners, community-based organizations, and local government officials – key members in shaping a visionary metro Atlanta.”

The Culture & Community Design Program was created to advance arts and culture as an essential part of inclusive and equitable planning in communities across metro Atlanta and is part of ARC’s Arts, Culture, and Placemaking Plan which aims to integrate arts and culture into the agency’s planning work to help build a thriving and healthy region.

2023 C&CD Program Participants:

Kristin Allin, Senior Planner, Atlanta Regional Commission
Jose Awo, Artist in Residence, City of Atlanta
Thomas Brazzle, Operations Manager/Storyteller, Out of Hand Theater
Maranie Brown, Vice President, BlackRock
Page Burch, Master Craftsman Program Coordinator, Kennesaw State University
Emma Chammah, Visual Artist & Public Art Program Consultant
Alanna Fairburn, Community Planner & Designer, TSW Design
Stephanie Fleming, Village Chief, ADAMA/Artist
Marcel Foster, Arts and Health Evaluator/Faculty, University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine
Beckie Hawkins, Arts & Culture Manager, City of Roswell
Ty Kelty, South Fulton Public Arts Commission
Eryn Kim, Transportation Planner, Pond & Company
Julia Kim, Landscape Designer, DTJ Design
Caitlin King, Main Street Manager, City of South Fulton
Vanessa Lira, Senior Project Director, Street Plans
Jennie Lobato, Founder/CEO, drawchange
Lillie Madali, DJ and Co-Owner, The Evil Doers Mega LLC dba Kamay
Dorian McDuffie, Public Art Project Manager, City of Atlanta Department of City Planning
Paige Mitchell, Program Associate, Housing & Place-Based, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
Sharon Moskowitz, Arts Consultant, Explore Brookhaven/srmART Connect
Laura Murvartian, Principal, LM Creative Talent, LLC
Katie Perumbeti, Lifelong Communities Coordinator, Atlanta Regional Commission
Terri Julian Polk, Board President, Create Dunwoody
Marcelo Roman, Board Member, Full Radius Dance
Joel Silverman, Artist, Joel Silverman Studio
Naomi Siodmok, Director of Community Development, City of Doraville
William Smith, Director of Economic Development, City of Stonecrest