Performing arts, gallery, creative writing, open mics, slams, artist talks, art classes, playwriting, event rental spaces, community gardens, resident artist studios. 41 years of art and community cultivation! We built our reputation at the Grant Park, Atlanta campus at 750 Kalb Street. After 41 years, we continue to empower artists by providing space, programming, and a vibrant community where creativity and culture thrive. We cultivate intergenerational, multicultural engagement through accessible studios, exhibitions, performances, and public programs in the literary, visual, and performing arts. Rooted in equity and sustainability, we connect artists and audiences through shared resources, community gardens, and a commitment to environmental and cultural resilience. History:
The Southeast Community Cultural opened The Arts Exchange in 1984. From 1988-1991, we administered the New Forms Regional Artist Initiated Grant in 5 southern states as part of the public-private partnership between The National Endowment for the Arts and The Rockefeller Foundation, funding artists working with new art forms in non-traditional community spaces. Partnered with state arts agencies to double the funding for working artists. In 1988 and 1990, we anchored the National Black Arts Festival (NBAF), producing a two-day ROOTS FESTIVAL, celebrating Caribbean and African arts and cultures. Today:
In 2018, we became the ArtsXchange, now occupying a renovated school in East Point, Georgia. We still provide studio space to individual artists, collectives of artists, and non-profit organizations. The Sinclair Gallery has a 33-year history of presenting visual and multi-media artists recognized nationally, regionally, locally, or college or high school students. The Robeson Theater provides a venue for writers, poets, playwrights, producers, directors, dancers, and musicians. We also offer various community classes, from dance to martial arts, photography, painting, and acting. We live our mission through our programs:
• The Artist Studio Program offers subsidized studio space for artists of the African diaspora working in multiple disciplines to create original work in furtherance of their careers.
• ArtsXchange Sinclair Gallery advances cultural equity and representation through curated exhibitions and artist talks featuring Black and diasporic artists who address social justice, identity, and heritage. We partner with community-based and black-led organizations to create space for them to develop exhibits that amplify our shared missions, uplifting and preserving local people and traditions through oral history, art, and literature.
• The Literature and Literacy programs engage and educate the community through accessible public programming across age groups that is free or low-cost, including creative writing workshops, slams and poetry readings, word games, and coloring conversations.
• Our inclusive below-market booking policy ensures community members and mission-aligned groups have affordable access to event rental spaces. Civic organizations and community-enhancing programs receive free meeting space to advance their goals. Through open studio events and festival-like programs, we encourage facility and studio tours and conversations.
• The Fresh Oasis Community Garden and Permaculture site promote environmental and public health justice by educating the public on sustainable gardening, food justice, and environmental stewardship.
• Civic engagement and movement building are rooted in our activist legacy. We host forums, film screenings, and public art projects that mobilize community participation in housing justice, environmental health, and cultural preservation. This positions art as both a tool for healing and a vehicle for systemic change. ArtsXchange models community-led responses to displacement and food deserts, integrating cultural identity into sustainable land use.
