By Milton Kirby | Decatur, GA | March 15, 2026
The evening started with the melodic voices of the DeKalb School of the Arts. Up second was the amazing guitar and vocals of Eugene Owens. Then there was dinner, anchored by gumbo and clam chowder for the palate. The twelve cities located in the county were not left out. Each received a fiberglass bull or heifer. Last, but certainly not least, came the magical violin of Brooke Alford.
That was how DeKalb County chose to introduce Arts DeKalb on Thursday, March 12, 2026 — not with a dry government announcement, but with music, symbolism, and a clear message that the arts are being placed closer to the center of county life.
Led by CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson and the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, the county officially launched the reconstituted DeKalb Council for the Arts and unveiled its permanent home, a 23,000-square-foot arts campus on Briarcliff Road.
For county leaders, the evening was about more than opening a building. It was about announcing a new cultural direction.
A New Home for Creativity
The new Arts DeKalb headquarters sits in the former Metro City Church property, now repurposed as a county hub for arts programming, public art, and cultural development.
The property was acquired for $7.5 million. DeKalb County contributed $4.5 million, while Callanwolde Fine Arts Center provided the remaining $3 million through a larger $9.5 million capital campaign. The arrangement doubles Callanwolde’s usable space and extends its partnership with the county through 2064.
“This is a formal, strategic framework to elevate creativity, expand opportunity, and ensure that arts and culture remain central to reimagining DeKalb,” Cochran-Johnson said.
That phrase — reimagining DeKalb — has appeared often in county policy language. On Thursday night, officials tried to give it a physical form.
A Mission With Countywide Reach
Arts DeKalb launches under the theme, “Celebrating Creativity. Elevating Culture. Connecting DeKalb.”
Its mission is broad but clear: build thriving communities through the arts, support artists and arts organizations, advocate for arts education and funding, and promote cultural vitality across all 12 cities in DeKalb County.
That countywide reach was underscored during the event when each city received a fiberglass bull or heifer as part of the county’s expanding public art initiative.
The symbolism was hard to miss. The county was not presenting arts investment as something reserved for galleries, elites, or one side of town. It was presenting it as a shared civic project.
New Leadership for a New Chapter
The county also introduced Stephanie Raines as the new Director of Arts and Cultural Affairs.
Raines was selected from a pool of more than 200 applicants. She comes to DeKalb from Athens-Clarke County, where she oversaw visual, performing, and public art programming tied to the Lyndon House Arts Center, the Morton Theatre, Athens Creative Theatre, the East Athens Educational Dance Center, and the county’s public art program.
She brings both academic training and practical experience, with degrees in photography and art history and a master’s degree in arts administration.
Her hiring signals that DeKalb wants experienced leadership, not just ceremonial energy, as Arts DeKalb begins its work.
Oversight, Funding, and Accountability
County officials also introduced the Arts DeKalb oversight board, which will help guide the initiative and manage the rollout of its first $500,000 in funding under the county’s DeKalb Reimagined initiative.
The board includes:
Charlene Fang, District 1, Appointee…………………………………………..Lauren Kiefer, Super District 6, Appointee
Kyle Williams, District 2, Appointee…………………………………………….Delores Burgess, Super District 7, Appointee Kamille Gilmore, District 3, Appointee……………………………………….Jan Selman, CEO’s Appointee
Melanie Hammet, District 4, Appointee…………………………………….Gale Walldorff, CEO’s Appointee
Rahn Mayo, District 5, Appointee
Their work will include overseeing public art installations, strategic grants for artists and nonprofits, and efforts to maintain transparency and equity as the initiative expands.
Andrew Keenan, Executive Director, Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, summed up the economic case for the investment in simple terms. “When arts move into an area, the area starts to grow and flourish,” Keenan said.
A Strong Night for Local Talent
The launch also served as a showcase for the kind of local and regional talent Arts DeKalb says it wants to support. The DeKalb School of the Arts Chorale opened the evening with a polished performance that reminded the audience why the school remains one of the county’s strongest artistic pipelines. The ensemble is nationally recognized and recently earned the Gold Mickey at Festival Disney in Orlando, the top choir award across divisions.
Students are now preparing for the GHSA State Literary Championships on March 14 and March 21.
Eugene Owens followed with a soulful performance that matched the evening’s celebratory tone. Owens is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, writer, composer, and producer whose work centers on themes of self-belief and personal growth.
Then came Brooke Alford, known professionally as “The Artist of the Violin,” whose smooth contemporary jazz style gave the night one of its most memorable moments. Her performance filled the room with the kind of emotion that official speeches often try to describe but cannot create on their own.
Programs Already Taking Shape
County leaders also announced several new cultural programs tied to Arts DeKalb’s rollout.
Among them are Art Stroll, a quarterly series featuring galleries, artist studios, and murals across the county; the DeKalb Arts Pavilion at the Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain Park; DeKalb Jazz Fest, a countywide concert series planned for October; FACE 2: The DeKalb Experience, which DeKalb will host in 2026 in partnership with Fulton County; and FUR + Ball: The Bridgerton Experience, a themed fundraiser blending fashion, philanthropy, and pet-friendly runway moments.
Taken together, the programs suggest that Arts DeKalb is being built not just as an office or agency, but as a public-facing brand with events that can draw residents into a broader county arts identity.
A Cultural Turning Point
What began as a proposal in October 2025 has now become a real institution with a building, leadership, funding, a governing board, and a calendar of programs.
In a message shared during the event, Cochran-Johnson said the arts help shape vibrant communities by inspiring creativity, bringing people together, and reflecting the stories and cultures that make a place unique.
That may sound like familiar civic language. But on Thursday night, DeKalb leaders backed it with land, money, planning, and public ceremony.
For artists, musicians, students, and cultural organizations across the county, the message was clear.
The arts are no longer being treated as decoration.
They are being treated as part of DeKalb’s future.
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