Atlanta Beltline Art Expands 2026 Season With Fall ProgrammingAtlanta Beltline Art Expands 2026 Season With Fall Programming

Atlanta Beltline Art is expanding its 2026 season with a new slate of fall programming across the Atlanta Beltline, the 22-mile rail-to-trail redevelopment project that has become a national reference point for how cities can integrate public space, culture and community participation into large-scale infrastructure.

From processional dance and experimental outdoor theater to documentary film and Atlanta’s graffiti and style-writing tradition, the latest projects selected through Atlanta Beltline Art’s 2026 Call for Art will transform Beltline trails, parks and public spaces into places for creative expression, cultural exchange and community connection through November.

For more than 15 years, the Beltline has intentionally embedded arts and culture into the planning and development of one of the nation’s most ambitious urban redevelopment projects. 

Today, Atlanta Beltline Art is among the largest public art exhibitions in the United States, spanning more than 17 miles of continuous mainline trail, offering a growing body of work that demonstrates how public infrastructure can serve not only as a means of connecting people and neighborhoods, but also as a platform for culture, identity, economic opportunity and belonging.

“Our work is driven by the belief that arts and culture are essential to how we build and sustain places,” said Amina Cooper, Atlanta Beltline’s Director of Arts and Culture. “The Beltline is not simply creating spaces for art to happen. We are creating opportunities for artists, residents and communities to help shape how these places are experienced, remembered and understood. That is the power of placekeeping. Making sure that as a city grows and changes, its people, stories and cultural identity remain part of the future.”

Arts and Culture Bring Atlanta’s Stories to the Beltline

The fall season reflects the breadth of Atlanta’s creative ecosystem while creating opportunities for residents and visitors to experience the Beltline in new ways.

gloATL, a long-time staple of Atlanta’s dance and movement community, will present “Making Kin,” a people-processional live-art project created by vocalist Monique Osorio, choreographer Lauri Stallings and musician Kebbi Williams. Through movement, music and performance, the work explores intimacy, social touch and the weight of shared physical spaces. The piece debuted on the Southwest Trail on Aug. 15, with an encore scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 4.

Also in August, Colombian video artist and director Combo D. Petalinski presented “There’s Not That Much Difference Between a Volcano and Our Tears” near the Southside Trail and Pittsburgh Yards^®. The experimental outdoor theater work combined live performance with surrealist, human-scale video animation projected among the trees, creating an immersive landscape that invited audiences to experience the natural environment and public space differently.

Beginning in September, Atlanta Beltline Art will participate in South Arts’ 2026-27 Southern Circuit Tour, the longest-running independent film circuit in the region. Atlanta Beltline Art will host six public documentary screenings at D.H. Stanton Park, with three taking place this fall, beginning Sept. 8 with “The A Stands for Art.”

The Southern Circuit program brings documentary filmmakers and their work directly to communities across a nine-state region. Screenings are paired with filmmaker-led conversations, creating opportunities for audiences to engage more deeply with the films and the stories they tell.

On Saturday, Oct. 24, Chantelle Rytter, creator of the Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade, will bring Where the Weird Things Are back to Historic Fourth Ward Park. The immersive, participatory event offers the whimsy and fantasy of the Lantern Parade through a reverse-parade format, with performers remaining stationary as spectators move among them.

The fall programming continues Nov. 6-8 with the sixth installment of ATL StyleWriters Jam, activating more than 50 artists across multiple sites along the Beltline and celebrating Atlanta’s distinctive style-writing tradition and culture.

A Model for Urban Redevelopment and Placekeeping

Atlanta Beltline Art annually brings hundreds of temporary artworks and live performance experiences to the trail and its surrounding parks and neighborhoods. The program is part of a broader strategy to ensure that the Beltline’s physical transformation is accompanied by cultural investment and opportunities for creative participation.

Rather than treating art and culture as an amenity added to completed infrastructure, the Beltline has made them part of the process of shaping place, offering a model for cities nationwide seeking to balance growth and investment with cultural identity.

“Atlanta Beltline Art focuses on creative placekeeping as a strategy to enhance public infrastructure in partnership with incredible artists who are bringing national attention to Atlanta’s local histories and culture,” added Cooper. “We believe that, when done right, our work makes room for creative expression, cultural exchange and economic opportunity. We’re proud that arts and culture are central to the Beltline’s vision and that this work is increasingly drawing national attention as a blueprint for other large-scale redevelopment projects.”

The Beltline’s approach continues to earn outside investment. Atlanta Beltline Art recently received another round of significant public funding, including the maximum award from the Georgia Council for the Arts and $26,500 from Fulton County Arts & Culture. The grants recognize the program’s role in strengthening the creative sector while expanding access to arts programming for residents across the county and state.

Upcoming Atlanta Beltline Art Programming Schedule 

Southern Circuit Tour: “The A Stands for Art”
South Arts
Tuesday, September 8 at dusk
Southside Trail | D.H. Stanton Park

Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade
Chantelle Rytter and the Krewe of Grateful Gluttons
Saturday, September 19 at dusk
Southwest Trail

“Making Kin”
gloATL
Sunday, October 4
Location and time to be announced

Southern Circuit Tour: “Minnie Evans: Draw or Die”
South Arts
Sunday, October 18 at dusk
Southside Trail | D.H. Stanton Park

Where the Weird Things Are
Chantelle Rytter
Saturday, October 24, dusk
Eastside Trail | Historic Fourth Ward Park

ATL StyleWriters Jam
Friday, November 6–Sunday, November 8
Multiple sites along the Atlanta Beltline

Southern Circuit Tour: “American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez”
South Arts
Sunday, November 8 at dusk
Southside Trail | D.H. Stanton Park 

Additional details and schedule updates are available at Beltline.org/art.

Media Assets: Images

The 2026 Atlanta Beltline Art exhibition and programming is sponsored by Delta Air Lines at the Gold level; Northside Hospital and Ponce City Market at the Silver level. The 2026 Kids Lantern Parade is sponsored by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

This program is supported in part by the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. Major funding for this organization is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. This program is supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly and funding from its partner agency – the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.

About Atlanta Beltline Art
Atlanta Beltline Art is the largest outdoor temporary art exhibition in the southeast, activating spaces along roughly 12 miles of the planned 22-mile corridor. The public art featured in the annual exhibition is carefully selected by an arts and culture expert jury and community members based on set criteria that aim to be as inclusive and equitable as possible. The linear gallery represents artists from across the region in a variety of mediums: sculpture, murals, dance, music, theater, photography, fashion, film and more. The Beltline welcomes over 2 million users a year, who are exposed to a number of art installations from the temporary and continuing exhibitions. To date, more than 90 projects have been commissioned as a part of the growing year-round collection. Stay abreast of Atlanta Beltline Art announcements and events at Beltline.org/art, or follow on social media @AtlantaBeltline and with #BeltlineArt.

About the Atlanta Beltline 
The Atlanta Beltline is the 22-mile rail-to-trail project that is transforming Atlanta’s neighborhoods, one mile at a time. The Beltline’s vision is to be the catalyst for making Atlanta a global beacon for equitable, inclusive, and sustainable city life. With an additional 11 miles of connector trails, the Atlanta Beltline is one of the largest, most wide-ranging urban redevelopment programs in the United States. In partnership with local communities and organizations, the Beltline is building a more socially and economically resilient Atlanta through job creation, inclusive transportation systems, affordable housing, vibrant public spaces, and community-focused programs that promote health and wellness, resident retention, volunteerism and advocacy along the corridor. Atlanta Beltline, Inc. is the official implementation agency for the Atlanta Beltline and collaborates with Atlanta Beltline Partnership, the foundation that raises private and philanthropic funds and delivers community programs that are fully supported by donor contributions. For more information, please visit www.beltline.org or follow on social media at @atlantabeltline.

Media Contacts:
Atlanta Beltline, Inc. Office of Communications and Media Relations
100 Peachtree Street, NW, Suite 2300, Atlanta, GA 30303 

Keona Swindler
Communications & Media Relations Manager       
404.477.3550, kswindler@atlbeltline.org    

Sigele Winbush
PR Consultant
404.862.2081, sigele@sigelewinbush.com