Atlanta’s arts scene didn’t follow a single script in 2025. It expanded in some places, closed down in others and, at key moments, forced the city to reckon with what—and who—it values.
Rough Draft‘s most-read Atlanta arts stories in 2025 didn’t add up to a single trend. Instead, they clustered around three recurring themes: who gets in, who gets pushed out and who gets remembered.
Who gets in?
In 2025, Rough Draft’s Sketchbook newsletter repeatedly highlights stories of access to the arts: how it works, where it’s available and what’s required to take advantage of it.
Isadora Pennington‘s story on Bank of America’s free museum admission program laid out how the initiative works locally—participating museums, designated weekends, basic logistics—and became one of the year’s most-read arts stories.
Pennington’s coverage of the newly reopened Delta Flight Museum also drew readers, offering a closer look at restored aircraft, updated exhibitions and an expanded presentation of aviation history and art.
News of Cat Eye Creative’s arrival in Decatur also drew readers. The announcement outlined the space’s mission and programming, expanding opportunities to encounter contemporary work in the Greater Metro area.
Taken together, these pieces documented moments of entry—free days, reopened doors and new spaces.
When guidance becomes the story
Some of Rough Draft’s other most-read arts stories helped readers navigate recurring cultural events.
A popular guide to the ATLANTAVERSE offered readers a practical overview of Atlanta Contemporary’s annual art party: what to expect, how it’s structured and how to make the best of it.
Similarly, insider tips for navigating Atlanta Art Fair 2025 focused on how to approach the fair: planning a visit, engaging with galleries, and moving through the event.
Who gets remembered?
Not every story documented arrival. Some of the year’s most widely read Rough Draft art features confronted absence.
The closure of Innerspace at Underground Atlanta raised questions about what happens when creative space disappears and what that loss means for the artists, promoters and audiences who depend on independent venues.
​Other widely read arts stories focused on memory and public marking.
​Coverage of Fabian Williams’ mural commemorating the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre focused on the work’s location, historical context and the artist’s engagement with a long-mischaracterized chapter of the city’s past. Reactions to the mural were mixed, and the dialogue it sparked continues.
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A piece tracing the history of Atlanta’s Lantern Parade also drew readers, documenting how a participatory procession became an annual tradition.
And a memorial for artist Corey Davis honored a life and body of work shaped as much by relationships and community as by finished work.
​Together, these stories documented how artists and communities use creative work to mark history and hold memory.
Staying close to the work
Amid reopenings, closures and civic-scale moments, one of the year’s most-read stories focused on a single artist’s practice.
​A feature on artist Armando Chacon focused on process, influence and recent work, grounding the year’s coverage in the act of making itself. The story offered a reminder that, beyond institutions and events, artists sustain Atlanta’s arts scene by continuing to work, experiment and build.
Looking ahead
Every year, Atlanta’s arts scene renegotiates the same fundamentals: who gets in, who knows how to move through, and who the city remembers when it’s over. The stories that drew readers in 2025 suggest Atlanta hasn’t settled those negotiations. They’ve just entered another round. Next year’s most-read arts coverage will likely ask the same questions. Whether the answers change is a different story.