ATLANTA ART ECOSYSTEMS

On March 1 & 2, 2025, Art Papers presented a series of public conversations that brought together members of the visual art community who are invested in addressing challenges faced by the nonprofit visual arts sector in Atlanta.

In 2024, Art Papers convened a steering committee of thought leaders in the Atlanta visual art community to design a series of public programs that would address the challenges facing our nonprofit art ecosystem while celebrating the abundance of innovative practices and adaptive strategies that offer exciting paths forward. The two-day program was the outcome of that steering committee’s shared urgencies and spaces of inspiration.

Atlanta Art Ecosystems is part of Art Papers’ Fire Ecology project. Fire Ecology is a 3-year institutional plan to embody the metaphor of Fire Ecology—the practice of using controlled fires to maintain ecosystem health by burning old growth to fertilize the soil. In 2024, Art Papers adopted this plan to mobilize our knowledge, resources, and historic role within our intersecting communities and to bring this legacy organization to a controlled and meaningful conclusion of operations in 2026.

Atlanta Art Ecosystems is accompanied by a limited edition booklet that—in addition to introducing each conversation and its speakers—includes an annotated “yellow pages” style collection of Atlanta visual art resources such as listings for exhibition-presenting spaces, awards and fellowships, studio space providers, art handlers/installers/shippers, residencies, fiscal sponsors, and more. The booklet was available on-site for program attendees and is available as a downloadable PDF below: