When CP Group began reimagining Downtown’s former CNN Center as The CTR, they needed someone who understood both Atlanta’s creative community and the weight of what that building represents. They found her in Neda Abghari, founder of ASHA Advisory, who is now acting as the curator behind CTR Culture Studios, the hybrid creative incubator and studio residency now taking shape inside one of the city’s most recognized landmarks.
CTR Culture Studios opens its doors to a first wave of resident artists in August. Selected artists receive private studio space at a below-market rate. In exchange, each commits to three public-facing activations annually: an open studio at The CTR, a collaborative exhibition or program at The CTR, and an activation through Downtown Atlanta Inc.
Abghari on what she’s building, who she’s building it for, and why it all matters.
CTR Culture Studios has been described as a “hybrid incubator, studio workspace, and platform.” In plain terms, what will a typical day look like inside that space once it’s fully activated?
When I envision the day-to-day at CTR Culture Studios, I see some of the city’s brightest, most innovative and experimental individuals and institutions not just working under one roof, but genuinely inspiring one another toward collaboration. I see Atlantans walking in to catch a lecture, a workshop, a performance — while the first cohort of creatives sits right there, working, engaging, making things in real time. I see people recording podcasts, producing digital media, making fine art, and having meaningful conversations that actually shift something … It’s a space where creators come to build their studios into businesses, explore new technologies and collaborations before launching out on their own, and where groups come to present workshops and share what they know.
Atlanta’s creative community told you they needed space to create and platforms to be seen. How long have you been hearing that?
Since 2009. After the recession, I started collaborating with property owners to make underutilized spaces available to Atlanta’s creative community. In 2011, I founded the city’s first nonprofit dedicated to providing both affordable studios and housing for Atlanta’s creative class. I handed that off in 2021 and have been consulting with commercial real estate developers, improvement districts, and civic leaders to do the same work at scale ever since. As an Atlanta native, I’ve watched this city expand and evolve all of my life, and over the past two decades that need for space has never gone away. It’s only grown. As Atlanta gets more expensive, the need for affordable space, accessible platforms, and real resources grows with it.
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This partnership involves CP Group, Downtown Atlanta Inc., The Creative Project, and Fulton County’s Public Art Futures Lab — four very different kinds of organizations. How did everyone end up at the table?
The truth is that these “very different” organizations were already connected, and the universe had been putting us in the same orbit for years. In 2024, one of my partners and long-time collaborators, Bem Joiner of Atlanta Influences Everything, introduced me to CP Group when they expressed their desire to bring on an art adviser for The CTR. Around that same time, Alex Frankcombe, an arts colleague whose work I had long admired, stepped into the role of Director of Art and Activation for Downtown Atlanta Inc. His predecessor had already approached me about exploring the possibility of creating an artist residency downtown, so when The CTR hired my firm, ASHA Advisory, and I brought my vision for an arts-and-tech incubator to the conversation, our worlds literally collided. The harder thing wasn’t the invitation. It was ensuring the program goals continued to support the needs and desires of each stakeholder throughout the program’s evolution and development. But when everyone at the table shares a genuine commitment to Atlanta’s creative community, alignment becomes possible.
What is the selection criteria for artists applying, and why?
We envision CTR Culture Studios as a thriving creative ecosystem rather than just a shared workspace, and our selection process welcomes artists who are ready and willing to cultivate that energy. We’re looking for creatives who are serious about their practice and who demonstrate a genuine investment in Atlanta’s cultural life beyond their own career — people who stand at a pivotal stage where they haven’t fully launched yet but remain open to cultivating the relationships, resources, and environment we are creating that will help them get there. We welcome a wide range of disciplinary practices. But beyond creative readiness, we want applicants who genuinely reflect the values of this space — people who are willing to teach what they know, share their work with the broader community, and remain open to having their own practice shifted by what they encounter here.
Applications for CTR Culture Studios close June 15. To learn more and apply, visit ashaadvisory.com/ctr-culture-grants.
