On Aug. 12, Atlanta artists and creative leaders met at Out Front Theatre Company’s Triangle Cabaret to give their feedback on the Atlanta LGBTQ+ Community Center Feasibility Study.
Malik Brown, the study’s project director, and Paul Conroy, a co-chair of the study and the founder and producing artistic director of Out Front Theatre Company, took feedback, asked and answered questions, and shared information about the future community center.
Tuesday’s artist event was one of several community outreach events Brown and the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority (AFCRA) have held to engage with different identity and interest groups, including trans leaders, Black community members, women, and the AAPI community. Among those in attendance were members of the Atlanta Queer Arts Alliance, Voices of Note, and Atlanta Freedom Bands.
“A lot of what’s happening in our community right now is focused specifically on arts and artists,” Conroy said. “When you think about book bans, when you think about drag bans, that is an attack on artists, first and foremost.”
The feasibility study, launched in January 2025, is a one-year exploration into the potential development of an LGBTQ+ center in Atlanta. Atlanta is one of the only major cities in the U.S. without an LGBTQ+ center, the closest one being in Savannah. As part of the research process, Brown and Conroy have traveled to other community centers across the country, looking into what services and amenities they offer, their struggles and successes, and how they sustain themselves.
In these other community centers, Brown and Conroy said that the arts have become an afterthought, with more significant focus on health care support. Conroy said he is dedicated to keeping the arts “at the forefront” with a rehearsal and performance space and local queer art like murals, photography, and paintings “everywhere.”
While the arts were at the forefront of Tuesday’s event, with attendees being asked questions like, “What is the most critical resource for the arts that is needed that an LGBTQ+ center could provide?” and “Who are queer artists that you think could inspire the work of an LGBTQ+ center in Atlanta?”
Brown and Conroy also answered general questions relating to how the center would be run, where it would be located, and what the expected timeline would be. They clarified that the city would not be involved with the operations of the center – a nonprofit will be created to run day-to-day operations once the city approves and funds the project – that they are looking at locations that are MARTA accessible and within proximity to LGBTQ+ residents and history. That phase one of the project will hopefully be complete by fall 2029 or summer 2030.
“People want mental health resources, so free counseling, sliding scale [services], group therapy. People want resources for youth and elders,” Brown said. “People want opportunities for economic empowerment. People want arts and culture. People want a place where we can celebrate and preserve and tell our own history, so we’re just really excited about what that space looks like.”
AFCRA has received over 1,750 responses to the LGBTQ+ center community input survey, with a goal of reaching 2,000 responses by Atlanta Pride in October. To take the survey, visit atlgbtqcenter.com. AFCRA continues its community engagement tonight with a women’s social at My Sister’s Room from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Related stories:
• LGBTQ+ community voice health, financial, and civic concerns at town hall
• Atlanta Pride and Out on Film commemorate LGBTQ+ history with ‘Reel Resistance’ summit
