Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Arts Culture Campus topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cultural Arts Council unveils downtown Arts and Culture Campus; state includes project in FY26 budget
Summary
The Cultural Arts Council described plans for a downtown Arts and Culture Campus including a 340-seat theater, food hall and incubator spaces; the council said the state amended its FY26 budget to endorse the project and the city is pursuing a key property at Campbellton and Church streets.
Emily Lightner of the Cultural Arts Council said the organization is moving forward with a proposed Arts and Culture Campus in downtown Douglasville that would add a 340-seat theater, a food hall with culinary-incubator space, two black-box theater spaces, interactive exhibit space and artist incubator studios.
"We're bringing a theater back," Lightner said, describing the 340-seat venue and other facilities meant to keep arts activity and spending in Douglasville instead of driving residents to Atlanta. She said the campus is intended to anchor a creative arts district stretching from the amphitheater and Town Green to the new campus site.
Lightner told the podcast the state of Georgia has amended its FY26 budget to include endorsement for the campus and that federal grant funds have moved into appropriations, signaling state-level support though she did not specify dollar amounts or line-item detail. She also said the city plans to purchase the Hartley Rome & Fowler law office at the corner of Campbellton Street and Church Street—catty-corner to Regions Bank—as part of the campus footprint.
Lightner described programming goals that include artist incubator spaces and partnerships with West Georgia Technical College for culinary arts training and a certified kitchen local caterers can lease. "Those incubator spaces are creating talent pipelines for students to go through a program or a class and then go and graduate and have that 'what's next,'" she said.
Supporters said the campus aims to increase downtown cultural activity and local economic activity by offering performances, exhibits and small-business incubation locally. Lightner urged listeners to sign up for the Cultural Arts Council newsletter at artsdouglas.org for updates and for the city website for future announcements.
The Cultural Arts Council is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year; Lightner said that milestone and recent large events such as Taste of Douglasville, which the hosts said drew more than 12,000 attendees, have helped build momentum for the campus. The council plans expanded programming—summer camps, pop-up parties and a multicultural festival—and an annual meeting at the end of its fiscal year.
Lightner did not provide a construction timeline beyond general references to multi-year downtown changes and said specific funding amounts and schedule details are not specified on the episode. The Cultural Arts Council and city officials said they will post more details and updates on artsdouglas.org and douglasvillega.gov.
