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The ATL Arts Collective

The ATL Arts Collective

By: Wordplay Collective
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If you're curious about the people making Atlanta a more creative, interesting, and joyful city, you're in the right place.

Welcome to ATL Arts Collective, powered by ArtsATL.

Every week, host and executive producer Kim Drobes gathers artists, journalists, musicians, writers, performers, and other fascinating humans for conversations about what's happening in Atlanta's creative community. Along the way, you'll discover new exhibitions, performances, concerts, restaurants, festivals, ideas, and the people making this city so special.

With original reporting from ArtsATL writers, interviews with artists and cultural leaders, and a different featured contributor each week, ATL Arts Collective is part arts magazine, part insider's guide, and part conversation among friends.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Copyright 2026 All rights reserved. Art Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Encore: Atlanta Paints Its World Cup Story | The ATL Arts Collective

    Encore: Atlanta Paints Its World Cup Story | The ATL Arts Collective
    Jul 1 2026

    This episode of the ATL Arts Collective spotlights Atlanta’s creative surge around the FIFA World Cup, featuring new city-commissioned murals, conversations with artists like Charity Hamidullah, Kyle Brooks, Melissa Mitchell, and Nick Turbo Benson’s Waffle House mural.

    We also cover the Atlanta Cultural Exchange at the CTR, spotlight Sheila Pree Bright’s Footwork exhibition at the Carlos Museum, ArtsATL’s Best Bets for the July 4th weekend, and community programs bringing art and sport together across the city.
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    32 mins
  • Cinderella, Community, & Chad Radford | The ATL Arts Collective

    Cinderella, Community, & Chad Radford | The ATL Arts Collective
    Jun 24 2026
    ✦ Guest co-host Chad Radford ✦ True Colors Theater presents Cinderella ✦ GULCH Magazine's Making it Work ✦ Kess Fest ✦ Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition ✦ Best Bets ✦This Week On The Show✦ This week’s guest co-host is Chad Radford! As the former longtime music editor for Creative Loafing and author of Atlanta Record Stores: An Oral History, Chad has spent decades documenting the city's underground music scene. He shares the origin story of his website, RadATL, and explains how he single-handedly curates his new, independent live music and events calendar to help local music lovers avoid missing the best gigs in town. Chad will introduce and host a live-audience Q&A with Atlanta filmmaker James Schroeder for his new documentary, The Tree Economy, on June 26 at The Garden Club at Wild Heaven West End. ✦True Colors Theater Presents Cinderella✦ The True Colors Theatre production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella has officially taken over the Southwest Arts Center, bringing an all-Black, 1980s-inspired celebration of resilience to the stage. Directed and choreographed by Juel D. Lane, a College Park native in his directorial debut, the show infuses classic theater with ballroom voguing, breakdancing, and New Jack City fashion. Rising star singer Jai'len Josey performs as Cinderella, alongside former American Idol finalist LaToya London as Queen Constantina and Ithica Tell as the stepmother. ArtsATL writer Angela Oliver drops by to review why this production is the exact cultural medicine Atlanta needs right now. ✦Gulch Magazine’s Making It Work: Patricia Hernandez✦ In this month's edition of Making It Work, Jasmine Hentschel of GULCH Magazine sits down with prominent Atlanta muralist and visual artist Patricia Hernandez. Patricia opens up about the reality of juggling freelance contractor gigs, multi-job survival skills, and parenting while pursuing a public art career in a rapidly changing city. She shares her personal experiences navigating the creative landscape as an immigrant and a woman of color and explains the mission behind her non-profit organization, Nuestra Creación, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to uplifting immigrant, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC creatives. Learn about their upcoming call for artists ahead of their October 5 exhibition at Echo Contemporary Arts, ensuring the next generation of Atlanta artists don't have to navigate the creative ecosystem alone. ✦Independent Music Advocacy and Kess Fest ✦ We take a closer look at the upcoming Kess Fest benefit concert happening this Sunday at the historic Smith's Old Bar. Chad Radford highlights how the event, founded by drummer and production manager Noah Kess, doubles as a crucial fundraiser for the Atlanta Musicians Emergency Relief Fund (AMERF), providing financial aid to local players and production techs in times of crisis. Get a preview of the unique lineup featuring bands whose members work behind the scenes in the local music industry, including Albatross, Nobody's Darlings, The Head, and the nine-piece Fourth Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra, followed by a special film screening of Homicide Don't Die and a set from DJ Full Frequency. ✦Global Virtuosos Headed to Buckhead✦ We dive into the third biannual Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Buckhead. ArtsATL music reporter Jordan Owen explores the profound legacy behind the competition, organized by Sally Stephens Westmoreland to honor her late mother. Discover how this prestigious event drew 72 global applications for just six finalist spots. Organist and music director Scott Atchison joins the conversation to discuss the unique, required performance of Pamela Decker's contemporary piece Kairos alongside traditional classical compositions, as international finalists compete for $21,000 in cash prizes. The final round takes place on June 27. ✦ ArtsATL Best Bets for the Week ✦ ArtsATL Executive Editor Shane Harrison stops by with his highly anticipated weekly roundup of need link top cultural happenings around the city. Today, his curated mix includes the Southern Fried Queer Pride festival, the Classical Remix Festival’s Gala Concert, and a screening of High Fidelity with John Cusack. Special thanks to today’s sponsors: Motherlode Mainline Magazine It’s UATL Join us on social at @artsatlanta and @atlartscollective Our theme music is K Michelle Dubois' "Hit the Deck from her album "Astral Heart," courtesy of Wicked Superb Records ☕ Want to buy the podcast a cup of coffee? Here's how to support the work we do. ☕
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    57 mins
  • Screams, clowns, WIT, and a roving curatorial practice | The ATL Arts Collective

    Screams, clowns, WIT, and a roving curatorial practice | The ATL Arts Collective
    Jun 17 2026
    ✦ Gulch’s Jasmine Hentschel and EC Famming ✦ Atlanta Variety Shows ✦ WIT ✦ Best Bets ✦ Art News ✦ ✦This Week On The Show ✦ GULCH magazine’s Jasmine Hentschel and EC Flamming join as guest co-hosts today! We dive deep into the origin story of Gulch Magazine, Atlanta's premier print and digital visual art publication. The co-founders discuss their individual professional backgrounds, transitioning from tech startups and historic regional institutions like Art Papers to documenting the contemporary local art scene. They pull back the curtain on how they meticulously curate their comprehensive weekly art calendar on Instagram, and we learn about their massive new data-driven community research survey, which aims to analyze the behaviors, mental models, and needs of regional creators to spark actionable strategy ahead of the highly anticipated Atlanta Art Fair this October. ✦ Atlanta's Live Variety Revue Boom ✦ Ever since the pandemic shutdown, a unique breed of live variety entertainment has taken over the Atlanta theater scene. These recurring productions feature a wild mix of local performers aiming to lift the gloom with pure entertainment, community connection, and plenty of laughter. Arts ATL Editor-at-Large Benji Carr catches up with the creative minds behind these recurring shows to find out exactly what makes them tick. Gina Rickicki, an acclaimed Atlanta actress and improviser, shares the inspiration behind her hit monthly show, Joy Deficit, at Red Light Cafe in Midtown Atlanta. Discover why every performance kicks off with a therapeutic 13-second primal scream and how audience participation helps conquer isolation. Plus, puppet designer and clown Scottie Rowell discusses Down to Clown, a vintage game-show-inspired collaboration with Karie Vieira, and Nick Lynn-Rulon details the weekly open-mic performance, NoShame. ✦ Pulitzer Prize-Winning Drama "Wit" at Actors Express ✦ Atlanta radio legend Lois Reitzes returns to the microphone for a deeply nuanced conversation with Freddie Ashley, the Artistic Director of Actors Express. They explore the profound thematic layers of Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, Wit, which is at Actors Express theater in the King Plow Arts Center through June 28th. Freddie breaks down the tragic journey of Professor Vivian Bearing, a demanding scholar of 17th-century literature and the holy sonnets of John Donne, who must learn to shed her intellectual armor while battling stage four ovarian cancer. The discussion highlights the play's dual portrayal of healthcare through an ambitious young fellow and a nurturing nurse, its enduring legacy as an educational tool for teaching hospitals and medical schools, and playwright Margaret Edson’s enduring 30-year connection to local education as a teacher at Midtown High School. Freddie and Lois reflect on an emotional quote from Edson, sharing her ultimate desire for the production: that the audience leaves feeling fundamentally closer to the people they love. ✦ Nomadic curating & Tomorrow Mourning at the Hambidge Hive ✦ GULCH’s Jasmine Hentschel and EC Flamming highlight the fascinating world of elsewhere, a roving, nomadic curatorial practice led by Anna Akpele. Operating outside the constraints of traditional "white wall" galleries, elsewhere activates alternative spaces like houses, apartments, and backyards. The duo reviews elsewhere's latest exhibition, Tomorrow Mourning, on view at the Hambidge Hive, a massive 30,000-square-foot industrial project space on the 15th floor of Uptown Atlanta in Lindbergh. Featuring artists Makita Lewis-Kanuthia, Scott Kightley, Ezekiel Robinson, and Stemlines, the exhibition explores heavy, intimate themes of impermanence, grief, loss, and the fluid space between denial and acceptance. ✦ ArtsATL Best Bets for the Week ✦ ArtsATL Executive Editor Shane Harrison joins the show to share his top cultural recommendations for the week. This week, his mix includes Juneteenth celebrations, the Georgia Shorts Film Festival, and a performance by Georgia’s own Empress of Soul, Gladys Knight. ✦ Atlanta Arts News Brief with Isadora Pennington ✦ ArtsATL Senior Editor Isadora Pennington stops by with a celebratory look at the individuals and organizations shaping the local cultural footprint. Highlights include: The 21st Annual David C. Driscoll Prize, awarded by the High Museum of Art to Spelman University professor Dr. Cheryl Finley. SouthArts Grants celebrates writers Ashlee Haze and Kelundra Smith, The Goat Farm's Loop, and more. Special thanks to today’s sponsors: Motherlode Mainline Magazine It’s UATL Want to buy the production team a coffee? Drop a one-time tip via Venmo Join us on social at @artsatlanta and @atlartscollective. 00:00:00 Sponsor open 00:01:33 Show Preview & Segment Rundown 00:02:10 Variety Reviews (Benji Carr) 00:08:40 Interview: GULCH Magazine Founders (Jasmine & EC) 00:15:02 ...
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    51 mins
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