(dramatic instrumental music)
- Art can be an invisible force in a city.
- Art is that soul.
It's the part of the city that makes the heart beat.
- People don't realize art is there, but it's coloring
everything that they do.
- This city has a personality that's open to all
of these creative things.
- Art really is that thing that jells a city or community.
- Diversity here is wild.
- I think we found that we could do better as a unit
than separate.
- [Announcer] Funding for Music Voyager provided
in part by
Celebrating Culture
Encouraging Communication
Create for Change, a non-profit for bridging cultures
through film.
Look, listen learn.
Additional funding for this season of Music Voyager
provided by prom peru, a commission for travel
and tourism, Peru,
Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau,
Tauck, how you see the world matters.
- You know when you put art out in the public domain
it becomes something that everyone has access to.
It's evident in the offerings that a city has
available for people to enjoy the architecture,
theater, ballet, music festival, all of that.
That all creates a atmosphere in a city
that really supplies its soul.
- Piedmont Park is like Atlanta's Central Park.
In fact, it was designed by the same family, the Olmsteds.
You can walk your dog there.
You can ride your bike, but it's also the place
where there are a lot of festivals that happen.
There's Music Mid-Town, the Atlanta Dogwood Festival,
and there's the Atlanta Jazz Festival.
We're up on our 40th year of the free
Atlanta Jazz Festival.
Every music festival has an art component.
Hip Hop artists will credit being at the Atlanta
Jazz Festival as basically getting them interested
in live music.
Outcast actually put lyrics in one of their songs
that they were sittin' in Piedmont Park at
the Jazz Festival.
In my journey through life I have always sought out
culture as a way to understand other cultures.
I try to just be a catalyst for creativity.
I wanna make sure that Atlanta stays interesting.
Not long after I moved to Atlanta the Noguchi
was dedicated.
And it was just a perfect place for Atlantans to take
their children and enjoy.
Osamu Noguchi was commissioned to do this
by the High Museum of Art and it was made
a gift to the city and it is an iconic
piece of art and Atlanta's most favored place.
But, over the years it was neglected,
and it really saddened me to see
the deterioration.
And, it really inspired me to do something about it.
And so, when I had the unique opportunity to become
the person who's job it was to manage the cultural
resources in Atlanta, the Noguchi was first on my plate
of the things that I wanted to save.
I'm proud of that.
I have had the unique opportunity
to meet some outstanding artists.
One of the artists that I'm aware of and respect very much
is Fahamu Pecou.
- Fahamu Pecou, first of all, he makes you work harder
at what you do.
He's able to crank out almost like a good DJ.
In the moment you're looking at the crowd
and you're able to address what's happening, right.
He can do that with his art.
- You know, he uses himself and his artwork.
- If there's something going on in the world
or in the community, he's gonna put that in his artwork.
The dude, he's really a genius, but it just
flows out of him.
- My style is inspired by my background
and creating for Hip Hop culture.
I started out working as a graphic designer
in a boutique agency in New York where I got
to like sit next to you know Hip Hop artists
like Shawn Colmes and Busta Rhymes and all
these guys in the late 90's and design
collateral for them.
It was a really great experience because I got
to meet the person rather than the persona.
Fast forward to the time I moved back to Atlanta
and I started my own agency here.
Chuck Close, who's one of my favorite artists,
has this quote that I'm gonna butcher completely.
Basically he says that there's no such thing
as an artist being inspired and then painting,
you have to work, just work and then you'll find
that inspiration in the work.
I make it a goal to constantly be making, to constantly
be doing, to constantly be painting or drawing,
sketching, doing something and that's where the ideas
actually come from.
Rise Above is the piece that was created for the King
Memorial Martyr Station and it was inspired by
a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King.
I wanted to do something that would speak to
the people who lived here and not necessarily
be a reflection of another image of an icon,
so what I did instead of painting you know,
Dr. King, was to take his words and apply it
in a way that you know, anyone walking by
could kinda see themselves reflected in the piece.
And, you know, it represents a figure who's jumping.
You see his figure breaking the plane as if to suggest
that his rise is infinite.
Typically, I have music going and I'm like
a big music person.
- I've been able to see him in the studio.
When he works he likes to have music on.
- I'm often dancing and painting or singing and painting.
- And that music, it sparks something in his brain.
- And, you know, just try to get into the zone.
You know, growing up I went to a Baptist church and I
used to see people catching the Spirit, you know,
start doing their thing, fallin' out and fainting
and all that kinda stuff.
And, I would always be like, what is that about?
Like, that's, I don't understand that
until one night in that Indian cafe, D. J. came in
on the ones and twos and played a song.
I found myself on my knees in the middle of the floor.
It was like the first time I ever had like a really
like religious experience, you know.
- Kevin was at the forefront of the house music scene
at his peak which was the 90's, house music rolled out.
- Yeah, whenever I play music or when I'm producing music
it's about making people feel better.
Different DJs have different reasons for why they
spin, but myself, I play to heal.
He used to be the DJ for Arrested Development.
He is one of the godfathers of Atlanta's house music.
- Atlanta's house music scene coming from Detroit
and Chicago have somehow or another had a big place here.
A lotta those guys even lived here.
Kevin, all those guys are just DJs at heart and I think
music just pumps through the veins of Atlanta.
- Atlanta has been blessed with some really great venues
and one of them is a venue called the Sound Table.
It has the best sound system in there.
It's a warm analog sound system where I play nothing
but seven inch vinyl records.
I love playing to just different walks of life, right.
Just the way everybody interacts and feels and has
a good time.
By the end of the night I'm uplifted.
It's just a awesome party.
Sounds in Atlanta has really caught my attention
because it's a project that allowed me to take
my field recorder out into Atlanta.
It was really just going there and capturing sounds
that exist that I may have missed, but takin'
the time and really closing my eyes and listening
to a lotta sounds from the chains of the dogs
that were going by
or the individual on the bicycle.
The sound of the train.
One of the stops today was the Audubon Municipal Market.
One of the first sounds that really stuck out
was the sound of the saw blade going through bone.
Being able to isolate the individual sounds
and chop 'em up and turn it into programmable instruments.
We started walkin' around more and I found these
other women that were cutting vegetables, right.
Now, my brain is really clicking,
but beautiful things as this is happening
there's a sister at the register and she tore
this receipt off and it just popped through everything.
And what I hope to do is basically create
a tune that people can enjoy listening to,
it represents Atlanta like they'll hear in the vibe
that's coming out through it and that's soul food,
soul music.
It's the souls that pass by with good energy
is the essence of Atlanta that I was able to capture
on this day.
(upbeat music)
- I think it's important that every city,
if it is to be a healthy city, that it have
a healthy arts community.
- Community, that's what's pushed here.
More than any other city that I've been in,
it has a very collaborative vibration.
- 'Cause that arts community is what provides
the transfer of ideas, the transfer of identities
and so that people know one another and can be known
and feel safe.
- My name's Michael Haverty and I'm the Co-Artistic
Director of 7 Stages Theater.
This theater has really been the experimental greeter hub
in Atlanta since its founding in '78.
This is the place that will do plays that no one else
will because they're pushing the limits.
Little 5 Points has always been a theater's home.
It's one of the few walkable neighborhoods in Atlanta
and so, we are lucky to have a sidewalk on which
to perform and it's the sort of neighborhood
where folks that live here and folks that visit here
are interested to see something different.
Artistic people like to hang out here.
It's full of great bars, great restaurants
to hang out after the show, so we really operate
on that model.
We bring in a lot of international work.
We're bringing Ofer Nahari back.
This'll be the second time he's performed in Atlanta.
He is one of the consummate masters of physical performance.
The things he can do with his body and with his voice
it's beyond mime, it's beyond, you can't even call it
clowning really.
But, this is physical theater and dance.
He's on point shoes the whole show.
The show's called Nose One Nowhere and it's this solitary
figure who appears in a tiny beam of light
and creates an entire world around himself.
It's like an existential comedy.
I mean, it's hilarious, like slapstick comedy.
It's like some of the best just physical comedy
I've ever seen.
It's like we've seen a whole life
and seen all the joy and all the humor
and all the sadness of it as well.
It's really unique experience.
This is the Cabbage Town Cotton Mill Loft.
You can sorta see it over the train there.
Just a gorgeous, gorgeous building
and that's been a real economic engine that's been
improving neighborhoods.
You'll see it in the west end, too, around the Goat Farm.
Talk about magical, the Goat Farm is a former
munitions factory, I believe built in the Victorian era.
- If you've never been to the Goat Farm, I have no idea
how to describe that.
- I mean, it actually is a goat farm.
There's goats over there.
- It's been bought and re-developed and made
into this amazing space for artists.
- We have about 250 artists who rent space
and about 450 total artists who occupy space here.
- There's this multi-layered, multi-textured aspect
to the Goat Farm that defies description,
at least my ability to describe it.
But, what it results in is this vibrant space.
- It has really become a unusual space for art
because it's not pristine, you know, it's kinda grungy.
- We also attract the film industry.
Obviously, it's a beautiful, hard to find kind of
aesthetic in the city of Atlanta, so we've attracted
TV shows like the Walking Dead and The Hunger Games.
- Atlanta has one of the fastest growing movie industries.
- Castleberry Hill, downtown Atlanta, you know
we have this kinda really cool district that you know
is open to the newbies and all the arts in town.
These are my boys.
Elliott Street Pub is what it is because of who comes here,
not because of what me and my brother did here.
It's just how it was created from those people.
My name's Mike Jakobs.
Me and my brother, we came here 13 years ago,
we brought kind of a crack ass of a building
where nobody lived in Atlanta and we built a pub
with a live music venue downstairs called The 51.
We do a ton of things here.
We're open to all art from metal sculpting
to a 5000 degree iron furnace that we have
on the side of the building to a full on jazz
thing that we have downstairs goin' on right now.
We're an artist venue at night, but a third
of the day we sell, we serve lunch.
We make great sandwiches.
What we've become is this little spot, you know,
for all the riggers and gaffers and stage hands.
For the first and second teams you know, there could be
a rigging truck and there'll be 15 guys that get out.
It's a pretty cool city to shoot it you know.
We could be anywhere.
So, customer yields an artist community, so we have
a bunch of galleries and the second Friday of the month
we call it Art Stroll.
Galleries open up and a bunch of the restaurants
and bars participate.
They asked me years ago, like what are you guys
gonna do for art store when we opened up.
I said I don't know, kinda like do you wanna make art?
I was like, yeah, that sounds cool.
So, we start the iron pull.
When me and my brother built this we built an
environment that was just kinda open to things
and you know, it happened to where that people
just started coming and these things started
getting created.
We pour probably two tons of iron a year.
We used to have a couple events every year.
One called Dashwa.
Dashwa's a Chinese tradition during the new year
and they take a furnace like ours, they pour
melted iron in a caldron.
They scoop it out with ladles and they throw
it at a castle wall.
So, we built a 40 foot wood wall and leave melted iron.
A couple thousand people showed up and we made it stekele
an experience for people.
Iron is 5000 degrees when it's hittin' the wood
it acts like an iron skillet, just kinda dissipates off.
So, there's this huge fire when you chunk it.
So, Fire Station One is next door.
We had a real fire truck here so, nobody got burned.
Do you wanna hear a story?
- [Person At Bar] Yeah.
- One year the pub did a Halloween thing of pirates
and we did the front of the building as a pirate ship
and had a mermaid out front.
One day a truck ran into the mermaid, took it down
and the only person I could ever think of re-creating
something that cool was Ashley Zeltzer.
She's done a bunch of stuff for Cartoon Network
and she came here a bunch and when she re-did it
it came back even better.
Now, it's got hair, it's got makeup, you know
and it's got a full tattooed you know, chest on it.
- Mike and Pete from Elliott Street Pub are my family.
They are so eager to promote artists
and promote creativity and to support it.
- Ashley just makes these things that are better
and creates things you know, in the movie business
and throughout our city.
- When I moved here I didn't know how to paint anything
and a friend said, well, Ashley could paint murals
at Adult Swim.
I said, okay I'll paint murals at Adult Swim.
I can totally do that.
And I went to Borders when we still had book stores
and I bought the klutz version, How to Paint with Acrylics.
- Ashley's a person that if you just, if you gave
her something, she would do whatever it takes
to get it done and make it happen.
Adult Swim gave me an opportunity to grow
and flourish and expand and I learned how to do everything.
Basically, it was a petri dish for my creativity.
- Everybody that comes here for some reason is in you know
either the arts or music or film or television.
- Elliott Street Pub is the meeting place of artists
in the Castleberry neighborhood and Masooud owns
this gorgeous gallery in the neighborhood and he'll
come there and visit with us and in turn, we're able
to go and visit his incredible, incredible space.
- I have collected all my life.
I have lots of art in different places.
I decided to start art gallery.
Really and truly, I'm a stone cutter.
I've granite quarries and this is my passion, my love.
I never bought a piece of art in my life
to think that one day I would sell it for more money.
- He takes a tremendous amount of joy in watching people
view artwork and that is
a very special gift.
- Art is a visual pleasure.
Either you like it or you do not like it.
Nobody should explain to you what you see in this piece
or in the other piece.
- Everybody is welcome to his studio and you're
allowed to speak your mind freely,
because it challenges him, 'cause he's a gynamic character.
- I never ask anybody to explain to me what to see
in Jackson Pollack's work, 'cause I can't see nothing.
The major support an artist needs that is piece
of art to be purchased.
Many artists when they need money, we buy their art.
- He just wants to give artists an opportunity to shine.
- We have this world of possibilities.
The city gets to be what we make of it.
- It's got this history.
It's southern and conservative, but it's got
a progressive element.
- There's a sense of openness to Atlanta.
- You can't help but draw from the people around you.
Everyone seems to be growing several directions
all at once.
- There's so many dynamic and amazing artists
who live and work here.
- There's something about Atlanta's energy
that always feels like it's just started.
- [Announcer] Funding for Music Voyager provided
in part by
Celebrating Culture,
Encouraging Communication,
Create for Change
a non-profit for bridging cultures through film.
Look, listen, learn.
Additional funding for this season of Music Voyager
provided by prom peru, commission for travel
and tourism, Peru,
Atlanta Convention and Visitor's Bureau,
Tauck, how you see the world matters.