The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center seeks to connect Atlanta to an international art dialogue. Photo courtesy TheContemporary.org.
Breaking news: The Atlanta-based foundation Possible Futures continues to kindle the flurry of excitement it has generated in the Atlanta art world this month. The new foundation has announced a challenge grant to boost student and artist membership at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center (ACAC). Through the month of October, students and artists can buy annual memberships at half price for only $12.50.
“Every Atlanta artist or student interested in contemporary art should be an active member of the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center,” said investment analyst Louis Corrigan, an Atlanta native and founder of Possible Futures. “It’s Atlanta’s center for the international art dialogue, with outstanding educational programs and exhibits that feature a mix of the best artists from Atlanta and around the world. If you are serious about your work, you simply can’t afford to miss ACAC’s programs.”
The ACAC has about 500 members, and students and artists account for as much as 41 percent of this base, said Jennifer Long, ACAC membership and outreach manager. Long said she was hired a year ago with funding from a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and membership at the ACAC has jumped by about 40 percent in the past fiscal year, a leap which is especially impressive in this economy.
Corrigan’s recent contributions raise the question of whether Possible Futures may help Atlanta turn a corner for the arts. On September 14 the foundation gave $90,000 in grants for arts criticism in Atlanta. On September 19 the foundation collaborated with i45 galleries in presenting the public art installation Convergent Frequencies, which will reappear in Castleberry Hill during Flux 2010 this Friday night, October 1.
The “residual effect” of an encounter with art is unknown, noted ACAC artistic director Stuart Horodner last night at a panel discussion at the Contemporary with Dina Deitsch, assistant curator of the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, and Sylvie Fortin, editor-in-chief of ART PAPERS magazine. If the ACAC reaches its goal of attracting more than 100 new student and artist members, what might this generate for our community?
Year-long memberships to the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center will be available at half price for artists and students through October 31.
