City of Atlanta
Mayor's Office of
Cultural Affairs

How the City of Atlanta is supporting Atlanta’s Art Community during Economic Challenges as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs we would like to share what the City of Atlanta is doing to support Atlanta’s non-profit arts sector and artists during this trying time.

In a national survey by Americans for the Arts, 91% of responding arts organizations indicated that they have cancelled one or more events. Many arts organizations have closed their doors for months to come. More than one-third of respondents expect to make reductions in staff; 26% have already reduced their creative workforce.

Similarly, Atlanta’s non-profit arts organizations are economically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to support the non-profit arts sector at this vital time, the City of Atlanta through the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA) is committed to the following:

• Fiscal Year 2020 Contracts for Arts Services final payment acceleration ahead of schedule.
• power2give.org/Atlanta campaigns for small to mid-sized arts organizations. There will be another opportunity for small and mid-sized organizations that have not posted campaigns during Fiscal Year 2020 to do so. power2give.org/Atlanta, a crowdfunding site for the Arts designed specifically to connect individual donors to art and cultural projects. The City of Atlanta will fund up to 40 campaigns, each organization could post a $2,500 campaign on power2give.org/Atlanta that will generate a total of $5,000 ($2,500 from City of Atlanta, $2,500 from the general community) for the organization.

Public Art Commissions

• Renew Atlanta Projects
  • Commissioning 20 artists to design Mural Bike Racks and
  • Commissioning 1 artist to design 4 Civil Rights Sculptures
  • Commissioning 1 artist for the Adamsville Gateway Project
• Zone 3 Police Precinct
  • Commissioning 3 Artists projects for the interior and exterior of the building.

We hope these efforts will provide some financial relief and comfort to the City’s art & culture ambassadors.