From the hum of live drums on the Carrie Steele Bridge to the glow of murals and vendors, Atlanta’s streets are coming alive this weekend as ELEVATE 2025: Rooted & Rising kicked off its three-day run, transforming Atlanta neighborhoods into open-air galleries.
The citywide public art festival, which kicked off on Friday, Oct. 10, will be celebrated across the city from the West End to Sweet Auburn, down to Castleberry Hill, and South Downtown. The festival aims to reimagine cultural preservation as a form of public health. Through music, visual art, storytelling, and fashion, this year’s theme, “Rooted & Rising,” honors Atlanta’s creative legacy while nurturing the next generation of artists.
“Rooted & Rising is both a love letter and a call to action,” said Adriane V. Jefferson, the City of Atlanta’s Director of Cultural Affairs. “We honor the roots that raised us while uplifting the next generation of cultural caretakers. This festival asks us to remember, reclaim, and reimagine together.”
Jefferson, now in her first year leading the department, said she wanted to refocus ELEVATE into a single weekend of deep community engagement. “Let’s use ELEVATE as the bridge, the convener, to have conversations and build culture around what Atlanta is becoming,” she said.
The first night of festivities was curated by Atlanta visual artist Courtney Brooks, Friday’s “Steele Fresh” transformed the Carrie Steele Bridge, named for one of Atlanta’s earliest Black female philanthropists, into a celebration of “Black girl magic” and multidisciplinary creativity.
“When I found out I could do the event on the Carrie Steele Bridge, named after a Black woman, I knew I had to bring Black girl magic,” Brooks said. “I wanted to show all flavors of Atlanta art, from the music and spoken word to the fashion, live painting, and small businesses that keep the culture alive.”
The evening featured a lineup of Atlanta talent, including performances by Tiffany Goode & The Good Stuff Experience, vocalist Theresa the Songbird, and live painter Quake Solo.
Brooks said her vision was simple: pay artists what they’re worth and make the city’s investment reach the grassroots. “If I have funding from the city to do it, I’m going to pay the artists who are doing the work, the ones building from the ground up,” she said.
The Weekend Ahead
Saturday’s “Culture Comb Out,” curated by Melissa Alexander, is aiming to reclaim Underground Atlanta with wellness programming, games, and a throwback celebration of ‘90s style and storytelling. On Sunday, SLW & Steady Productions (Stephen Wilkinson and Jordan Neal) will host “Welcome to the West Side” in Westview, featuring a maker’s market, classes, live performances, and a documentary screening at the Pearl Cleage & Zaron Burnett Center for Culture and Creativity. “Westview gets overlooked; people often just drive through on the way to I-20,” Wilkinson said. “We want people to see how much artistry and history already live here.”
Neal said their goal is to build a connection. “We want people to walk away with a stronger sense of community,” he said. “Meet somebody new, have a conversation, and take that energy beyond the festival.”
Since its debut in 2011, ELEVATE has been recognized nationally by the Americans for the Arts Public Art Network as one of the country’s top 50 public art projects and a top 10 city livability initiative.
Jefferson hopes this year’s “Rooted & Rising” theme will remind Atlanta that its cultural history is not something to preserve behind glass, it’s something to live.
“Atlanta already has everything it needs to thrive,” she said. “We just need to see it, unify it, and build from it. ELEVATE is our bridge to that future.”