Georgia Council for the Arts
Georgia’s creative economy enhances the quality of life in our state, draws millions of tourists each year, revitalizes downtowns, contributes to Georgia’s booming film industry, supports lifelong education, and contributes billions of dollars to communities across the state. Our thriving creative economy makes Georgia not only an ideal place to do business, but also an incredible place to live and explore.
The creative industries in Georgia represent a combined $37 billion in revenue, including 200,000 employed with $12.1 billion in earnings, and $62.5 billion in total economic impact. The creative industries represent 5 percent of all employment and 4 percent of all business revenue in the state.
Arts & Culture Economic Impact in Georgia
$
billion in annual revenue
jobs across the state
$
billion in total economic impact
GCA Impact Map
This map illustrates the impact of GCA on counties throughout the state of Georgia. Each marker represents a type of grant, program, or service delivered to the county in which the marker is located. In FY18, GCA directly and indirectly delivered support to 131 of the state’s 159 counties. A total of 3.9 million individual Georgians directly benefitted from the programs and services delivered by GCA’s grantees
Grant Impact / Community Impact Stories
Seven Stages – Atlanta
With support from Georgia Council for the Arts, 7 Stages produced quality performances that inspired the imagination, provoked dialogue and interaction, and spoke to the social, political, and spiritual themes of our age. In concert with productions, we implemented curriculum…
JapanFest – Atlanta
As a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and with the mission to improve the understanding and appreciation of the bonds between Japanese and American culture in the Southeast United States, JapanFest would not be possible without the support of the Georgia Council…
Andrew’s College – Cuthbert
Over 100 members of the community turned out for the Arts Around the Square to support Cuthbert’s local artists and students. Art exhibits in two historic buildings downtown abounded with the artwork of faculty, students, local artists, and visiting artists.…
University of Georgia, Georgia Museum of Art – Athens
The GCA grant provided much needed general operating support, so that the museum could move forward with its plans for FY18. These included 16 temporary exhibitions, 11 long-term installations of the permanent collection, and 57 lectures, artists’ talks, gallery talks…
Otis Redding Foundation – Macon
The funding the Foundation received from the GCA allowed the Foundation to build further programming at the Otis Redding Center for Creative Arts, offer scholarships and introductory sessions for young musicians to experience lessons and workshops at the the Center,…
Okeefenokee Heritage Center – Waycross
We are so proud to have been chosen as a recipient for this grant. Thousands of people in our area have been effected by this show and the OHC during the development of this program. More people are coming to…
Mary Willis Library – Washington
The GCA grant allowed us to purchase enough art supplies and projects to hold monthly workshops for kids and 3 nursing homes in our community. Without the GCA grant we would not be able to provide workshops to any of…
Horizon Theatre Company – Atlanta
Funding from GCA allowed us to provide high-quality, professional programming for our 43,000+ diverse audience members from across the state, supporting eight full professional productions of contemporary plays that reached patrons from a wide variety of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds…
Fitzgerald-Ben Hill Arts Council – Fitzgerald
The Train Mural is a part of a successful initiative to improve the look and feel of the Historic Downtown Area of the City of Fitzgerald, GA. The location of the mural is in the heart of the Historic Downtown…
Colquitt Miller Arts Council – Colquitt
Funding through GCA helps us keep our ticket prices low and allows to avoid charging participation fees to our casts, allowing us to continue with our Cotton Hall mission to “involve as many people as possible in a theatrical experience…
Cartersville Downtown Development Authority – Cartersville
This project would not have gotten off the ground without the promise of the reimbursement that this grant offered our program. Once activated this opportunity also showed us that there is community support out there for work of this nature. …
Calhoun- Gordon County Public Library – Calhoun
The library would not have had the funds to provide this camp to our community without the generous funding of GCA. The library recognized the importance of providing access to art in rural areas, and as a result, applied for…
Boys and Girls Club of North Georgia – Elijay
Without this grant, this project would never have been possible. The GCA grant offered us the opportunity to bring a world-class musician to Ellijay, GA for a once-in-a-lifetime performance that made a profound impact on not only the audience, but…
Blue Ridge Community Theatre – Blue Ridge
Recieving the GCA Vibrant Community grant provided BRCT with the confidence to attempt to produce such a complicated production. We are proud of our relationship with GCA. They are known as a “litmus test” for the Arts. We can do…
Altama Museum of Art & – History Vidalia
Our organization has such a tight budget that we would not have had the courage to step out and offer these lessons without the financial security of a grant to back us up. The start-up needed for supplies, advertising and…
AIR Serenbe – Chattahoochee Hills
As a small non-profit arts organization focused on reaching often under-represented groups, the call for funding has its hurdles. With the help of the award, we were able to focus our work on curating artists of diverse backgrounds and disciplines,…
The Wren’s Nest – Atlanta
By preserving the heritage of African American folklore through storytelling, tours, and student publishing and preserving the legacy of Joel Chandler Harris, the Wren’s Nest serves as a valued educational and cultural resource. The 2017 strategic plan calls for increased…
Atlanta Opera – Atlanta
Funding provided by the Georgia Council for the Arts was allocated to general operating support, the most difficult type of support to secure. GCA funding helped The Atlanta Opera fill critical needs so we could focus more fully on our…
Reforming Arts – Atlanta/Lee Arrendale State Prison
The generous grant we received from the Georgia Council for the Arts has been instrumental in providing the financial assistance necessary for us to do the work of supporting people who are under carceral control in Georgia through arts, education,…
Peeples Elementary School – Fayetteville
Thanks to the GCA grant we received, we were able to bring in many artists and performers who provided quality cultural and artistically rich programming at our week-long event. We were able to bring in quite a few well known…
Paint Love – Atlanta
The support from the generous GCA grant allowed us to accept more partners than we had originally anticipated as well as helped us grow in our goal toward increasing longterm sustainability. We are infinitely grateful for the opportunities the support…
Out of Hand Theatre – Atlanta
The GCA Partner Grant had a hugely positive impact on the implementation of Out of Hand Theater’s programming. Without this funding, we would have had to limit the scope of our projects and serve fewer Georgians. With this grant, we…
Morris Museum – Augusta
Augusta is a better place to live, work, and raise a family thanks to its thriving, growing arts community. None of the things cited above would be possible without the support of the Morris Museum’s members, donors, and sponsors and…
Horizon Theatre Company – Atlanta
Notes from a Horizon Theatre Artist in Residence: “On this particular residency, I had a male student come up to me. Here’s our conversation: HIM: What are we doing? ME: You guys are writing a one-minute play. HIM: About…
Helen Arts & Heritage Council, Inc. – Helen
The grant funding made it possible for the Veterans and AVITA groups to have all the supplies and tools necessary for all planned activities and made it possible to fund the part-time Art Therapy Coordinator position which serves these programs.…
Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences – Rabun Gap
We have had a successful partnership with GSU for the past two years via a Distinguished Fellowship offered specifically for a GSU MFA student. Initially, it was envisioned that this Fellowship would benefit a third year MFA student ready to…
Golden Isles Arts and Humanities Council – Brunswick
I can think of no better way to demonstrate the value then by sharing this Facebook post that one of our Artist’s father put up after one of the performances. His son, Broker, has Down syndrome. (And I have his…
Georgia Symphony Orchestra – Marietta
The community primarily served by the Georgia Symphony Orchestra is highly diverse. This diversity is highly valued and as a result, over the past few years, the Georgia Symphony Orchestra has worked to ensure that all programs and events are…
Deep Center – Savannah
Deep this year deepened our partnership with the Chatham County Juvenile Court, which is currently struggling to shift its internal culture and systems to curb the over-sentencing of youth, especially youth of color. Deep operationalized recruitment of court-involved youth, significantly…
CJE Foundation – Sparta
Through the GCA funds, ART in SpARTa: The Sequel was able to engage additional tactics to reach an even broader public. This outreach helped alert our neighboring counties of a burgeoning art community here in rural Hancock County. This grant…
Banks County Public Library – Homer
WE were able to expose the community to a variety of EXCELLENT Georgia artists that they would otherwise not be able to enjoy! I wanted to share this small note with you as well! This made everything worth the time,…
Augusta Mini Theatre – Augusta
The journey of Jalen Frasher. He was born and raised in inner city Augusta, Georgia by his mother. She enrolled him in the Mini Theatre when he was in 3rd grade and stayed through 12th and received and is presently…
Atlanta Shakespeare Company – Atlanta
In July of 2017, it became even clearer how important our Shakespeare Intensive for Teens (SIT) camp is for its social value as much as for the artistic. This year’s happened to include several LGBTQA youth of various identities, only…
Atlanta Chinese Dance – Atlanta
Thank you for your message of choosing love in the face of hate. You are a difference-maker. These words were written by an audience member about our finale, which was a mini dance drama set before, during, and after the…
Athens Folk Music and Dance Society – Athens
The Folk Society Band was performing at an Alzeimer’s Care Facility and there was a woman who was very sick. She looked for all the world like she was sleeping in her seat. We started playing and her eyes opened…
Albany Civil Rights Institute – Albany
In 1961-1962, the eyes of the nation were focused on Albany as the century-long struggle of African Americans in southwest Georgia to claim their civil and human rights came to a head. Assisted by nationally renowned activists from SNCC, SCLC,…
Right Here in Georgia
State Art Collection
