Visual Arts An artwork from the Atlanta Art FairCourtesy of Spalding Nix Fine Art Atlanta Art Fair The inaugural edition of Atlanta Art Fair comes with high expectations. Two prominent local arts figures—Karen Comer Lowe and Lauren Jackson Harris—will curate the fair, which runs October 3–6 at Pullman Yards. The High Museum of Art is the lead institutional partner, and numerous local galleries and museums will have booths. More than 50 gallery exhibitors will be present in an event that organizers hope to turn into the Atlanta version of Miami’s Art Basel. It will take place alongside Atlanta Art Week, a citywide celebration of the arts from September 30–October 6. An artwork from GiantsPhotograph by Kwame Brathwaite, Joshua White/JWPictures.com Giants The High Museum of Art will showcase works from the Dean Collection belonging to music icons (and celebrity couple) Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Daoud Dean) and Alicia Keys, opening September 13. The exhibition, called Giants, will feature works by Gordon Parks, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Amy Sherald, and many other Black artists. The show debuted to rave reviews in February at the Brooklyn Museum; this will be its only exhibition in the Southeast. Finster Fest The legendary eccentric folk artist Howard Finster gained national prominence through album covers for R.E.M. and Talking Heads. Known to many as the “Andy Warhol of the South,” his home base was Paradise Garden in Summerville, where he created “sacred art” of pop culture icons like Elvis Presley, as well as UFOs and religious references. Finster died in 2001, but Paradise Garden is preserved by a nonprofit foundation and open Tuesdays through Sundays to the public. The annual Finster Fest, September 21–22, celebrates folk art with artist talks, live music and an artist market featuring dozens of booths. Dance Out of the Box Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre will present works by Shane Urton, a dancer with the Royal Ballet of Flanders, and Jennifer Archibald, Cincinnati Ballet’s resident choreographer, September 14–22 at its White Box Theatre in the Tula Arts Center. The performances will mark the final bow from Rachel Van Buskirk, who was a longtime Atlanta Ballet dancer before she cofounded Terminus. Van Buskirk, who connected to audiences with her onstage warmth and vulnerability, is moving with her husband to Houston. Her final performance will be a piece choreographed for her by fellow Terminus cofounder Tara Lee. Fall Into RhythmPhotograph by Kim Kenney Fall Into Rhythm Atlanta Ballet’s season begins with a program headlined with a world premiere by Kiyon Ross. A retired dancer who is now associate artistic director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, Ross presented his work Sum Stravinsky at Atlanta Ballet in 2022. His new piece is a departure from his neoclassical style and features 12 dancers. The Fall Into Rhythm program runs September 13–15 and also includes Elemental Brubeck by Lar Lubovitch and Tu Tu by Stanton Welch. Braiding Time, Memory and Water Core Dance’s Sue Schroeder will bring a site-specific project to Powers Island, one of the most serene spots on the Chattahoochee River. The performances will be October 19–20 as part of the Flux Projects series Flow. Braiding Time, Memory and Water will feature an ensemble of dance artists and percussionists. Schroeder, working in collaboration with conceptual artist Jonathon Keats and composer Felipe Pérez Santiago, will explore the river’s history and ecology to encourage safeguarding of the Chattahoochee’s waters. Music Jazz on the Lawn The Callanwolde Fine Arts Center’s jazz series celebrates its 25th anniversary with a roster leaning heavily on local performers with national reach, who will play in the intimate atmosphere of the center’s amphitheater. Grant Green Jr., son of the legendary jazz guitarist and an Atlanta resident, performs on September 6. Green’s latest album, released in 2022, is a tribute to songwriter Burt Bacharach. Local favorite Joe Gransden, the trumpet player extraordinaire, closes out the series on October 18 with his big band and guest vocalists. Mozart by Stutzmann In the summer of 1788, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart achieved the near-impossible: He drafted and completed three major symphonies. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will perform one of those, the 40th Symphony, November 7–10 under the baton of music director Nathalie Stutzmann. In addition to the ASO’s much-lauded chorus, there will be four guest vocalists. The lineup includes bass Harold Wilson, a veteran of Metropolitan Opera and The Philadelphia Orchestra, where Stutzmann is the principal guest conductor. Bohème Project The Atlanta Opera goes back to Pullman Yards September 8–October 5 with twin shows: their version of Broadway’s Rent and the opera that inspired it, Puccini’s La bohème. Rent explores the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the ’80s and how it affected the lives of a group of artists in New York City’s East Village. La bohème’s heroine originally suffered from tuberculosis; this modernized interpretation uses the Covid-19 pandemic as the backdrop. The two shows, part of the opera’s Discoveries series, will be performed on alternating nights, both using the same set. Theater The Mountaintop Set the night before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, this Olivier Award–winning play by Katori Hall—who won a Pulitzer Prize for her play The Hot Wing King—offers a refreshingly intimate perspective on the civil rights leader. The sharp, often humorous script follows a conversation between Dr. King and Camae, a mysterious young woman delivering room service who has a secret to share. The Mountaintop runs August 30–September 22 at Alliance Theatre and is directed by coartistic director Tinashe Kajese-Bolden. HairsprayPhotograph by Sydney Lee Hairspray Out Front Theatre Company is dedicated to telling LGBTQ+ stories, and this fall, it’s staging one of America’s most iconically queer productions. Based on the 1988 hit film by John Waters, Hairspray, the Tony-winning musical follows the high-coiffed Tracy Turnblad as she pursues her dreams of stardom via the The Corny Collins Show. Out Front’s production will feature—if rumors can be believed—a turn in heels by Out Front producing artistic director Paul Conroy. It runs October 24–November 9. First Voices Festival 7 Stages, based in Little Five Points, unveils its third annual celebration of Indigenous culture and art from November 7–24. Anchoring the festival is the world premiere of What Are You?, an immersive theatrical production by the performance artist Nicolette Emanuelle, who has roots in the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina. Her piece uses aerial movement, shadow play, and personal testimony to explore the struggles and resilience of multiracial people. First Voices Festival also includes a powwow November 16–17 hosted by Tatankala “Buffalo” Yellowbird, which will feature dancers in full regalia and traditional Indigenous arts and crafts. This article appears in our September 2024 issue. The post Atlanta Fall Arts Preview 2024 appeared first on Atlanta Magazine.