Fast Facts

• Creative industries in Georgia represent more than 12,000 businesses that employ approximately 200,000 people and generate almost $29 billion in annual revenue.

• The City of Atlanta boasts more than 50 visual art galleries and more than 30 playhouses and theatres.

• The metro Atlanta region has more than 400 cultural arts venues used in part or in full for arts-related activities.

• Approximately 66 percent of leisure tourists traveling to Atlanta to attend an arts or cultural event.

Arts Born from Ashes

Atlanta's cultural community, born from the ashes of one of the deadliest aviation disasters in history, is one of the most vibrant in the U.S. In 1962, 122 members of the Atlanta Arts Association perished when their plane crashed on takeoff at Orly Airport in Paris. The group was heading home following a month-long tour of European art treasures. As the city grieved, residents came together and used the devastating loss as a catalyst for investment in the arts.

This effort led to the creation of Atlanta Arts Alliance and Memorial Arts Center, which we now know as Woodruff Arts Center. The rebirth put Atlanta on the road to becoming the cultural capital of the Southeast and one of America's great cultural cities. Woodruff Arts Center, comprised of the High Museum of Art, Alliance Theater, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Young Audiences, draws more than one million visitors annually.

Today, Atlanta boasts more than 50 visual art galleries and more than 30 playhouses and theatres. The metro Atlanta region has more than 1,700 cultural non-profit organizations. Atlanta's Midtown neighborhood is home to the largest concentration of arts facilities and organizations in the city with more than 30 permanent performing arts groups and 22 various entertainment facilities.

Art Without Borders

Atlanta's arts scene is not confined within the walls of the city's world-class venues. Over the past decade, a new wave of visual art installations and street murals have rolled in, splashing parks, facades, tunnels and walkways with color and energy. Musicians play live at more than 40 outdoor festivals and neighborhood farmer's markets. Performance artists, such as those from Glo Atlanta, can be spotted on any given day practicing at Goat Farm Arts Center or performing on the grassy lawns of Piedmont Park.

The Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail is a scenic two-mile stretch speckled with permanent and rotating visual art installations from locally- and nationally-acclaimed artists. Atlanta's intown neighborhoods are also home to vivid murals commissioned by both Living Walls and independent associations. In the fall, spring and summertime, events like Atlanta Dogwood Festival, Inman Park Festival and Yellow Daisy Festival showcase local artists.

For more information on Atlanta's arts and cultural attractions, visit www.atlanta.net/things-to-do/arts-culture/.