December 2022

A HOLIDAY REVEAL FROM THE SOUTH FULTON INSTITUTE

I love the holiday season. Each year at this time I pause for reflection of the past year, and gain anticipation of what is to come. As another part of my holiday tradition I make and deliver gifts to my friends and family. I like thinking about what the recipient of my gifts might enjoy. Most of all, I love seeing them open the gift and move through the emotions of surprise and awe before the moment turns to delight - a smile spreading across their face.

This rush of a surprise is an exciting feature of the holiday season. The anticipation of a moment. The quiet eyes of an audience. Wrapping paper disguises with thoughtful adornments for children and well-tuned arrangements for the ones you love. Surprises can stun, startle, and amaze - creativity in action, and the older we get, the rarer they become. 

The SFI team has thoughtfully crafted an exciting 2023 and we joyfully announce our 2023 key programming:

NEW Partners and Friends

South Fulton Institute is pleased to announce that CREATE: Partner Program 2023, a partnership program producing art projects envisioned by artists and organizations, has selected our 2023 Creative Partners. 

Twenty-Eight selected artists, organizations, and schools operating within South Fulton and representing artistic excellence in film, theatre, dance, photography, and music will partner with the South Fulton Institute to present new and exciting projects and events that benefit the cultural and artistic landscape of South Fulton County. 

Download Program Announcement 

A sharing and listening surprise - Spark & Reflect & Connect

• Our Courageous Conversation Programming includes: SPARK: A twice-a-month podcast, where we ignite dynamic dialogue with the artists that we partner with. Airing on December 21st, the SFI podcast is free and available on Spotify and Apple Music. 

• SFI's bi-monthly book club, REFLECT, will launch in January, and we want to know what stories matter to you. Please send your suggestions for Atlanta-based authors and books to nathan@southfultoninstitute.org. 

• We will continue in 2023 to bring you CONNECT: A play reading series. We are excited to announce this year’s season of plays!

  • Actually by Anna Ziegler • February 2023
    Amber and Tom, finding their way as freshmen at Princeton, spend a night together that alters the course of their lives. They agree on the drinking, they agree on the attraction, but consent is foggy, and if unspoken, can it be called consent?  Playwright Anna Ziegler investigates gender and race politics, our crippling desire to fit in, and the three sides to every story. 

  • Clyde’s by Lynn Nottage • May 2023
    Creating the perfect sandwich is the shared quest of the formerly incarcerated kitchen staff of Clyde’s, a truck stop cafe. Even as the shop’s mischievous owner tries to keep them under her thumb, the staffers are given purpose and permission to dream—finding that “sometimes a hero is more than a sandwich” (New York Times). This stirring, masterful play from the team of two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage

  • Native Gardens by Karen Zacarias • September 2023
    You can’t choose your neighbors. In this brilliant new comedy, cultures and gardens clash, turning well-intentioned neighbors into feuding enemies. Pablo, a rising attorney, and doctoral candidate Tania, his very pregnant wife, have just purchased a home next to Frank and Virginia, a well-established D.C. couple with a prize-worthy English garden. But an impending barbeque for Pablo’s colleagues and a delicate disagreement over a long-standing fence line soon spirals into an all-out border dispute, exposing both couples’ notions of race, taste, class, and privilege.

  • The Mountaintop by Katori Hall • November 2023
    The night before his assassination, Martin Luther King, Jr. returns to the Lorraine Hotel after delivering his last impassioned speech, I’ve Been to the Mountaintop. A mysterious maid delivers his room service, though she seems to have more on her agenda than a simple meal. As their conversation progresses, true intentions come to light in a story written to humanize Dr. King, to help us understand that you don’t have to be superhuman to be a hero.