16 creatives chosen to occupy eight rent-free studio spaces with interactive storefronts at the mixed-use destination

The Hambidge Center has awarded 16 creatives the opportunity to occupy eight rent-free studio spaces for five months at the Cross Pollination Art Lab at Uptown, the mixed-use community connected to the Lindbergh Center MARTA station and being redeveloped by Rubenstein Partners (Rubenstein).

“Hambidge is proud to be building a creative playground where all art forms come together sparking boundless imagination,” said Jamie Badoud, Executive Director at the Hambidge Center. “We can’t wait to see how these dynamically diverse artists, music makers, dancers, sculptors, performers, writers, and puppeteers safely grow and share their inspired stories.”

Launched in Oct. 2020, the Cross-Pollination Art Lab at Uptown is a creative ecosystem where artists of all types can share ideas and experiment. The lab transforms 18,000 square feet of spaces fronting Piedmont Road and Lindbergh Lane into a community hub for exhibition and performance spaces. The selected artists will become part of an evolving, creative playground that celebrates experimentation among Atlanta's diverse and dynamic arts community. Hambidge received 70 outstanding proposals which were reviewed by five jurors.

The panel of judges consisted of:

• Anicka Austin, Artist and Archivist for the Geoffrey Holder and Carmen de Lavallade papers at Emory University
• William Downs, Artist and Art Educator
• Kim Ruiz, Artist and Music Educator
• Dayna Thacker, Artist and Hambidge Center Director of Programs
• Ife Williams, Artist, Change Manager and Creative Community Builder at Work Creative

The resident artists will move into their spaces this month. Below are summaries from each of the artist teams who are bringing their talents to Uptown.

Arvin Temkar (Suite 190) is a writer and photographer whose work examines complexity, tension, and hope in a multiracial, multiethnic America. During his time at the studio he will be working on personal essays and cultural criticism.

Dance Hub ATL (Suite 110) consists of seven professional artists representing a diverse collective of artistic disciplines including dance theatre, Butoh, modern/contemporary dance, spoken word, and performance art. The artists are Jessica Bertram, Laura Briggs, Porter Grubbs, Jacob Lavoie, Catherine Messina, Frankie Mulinix, and Nadya Zeitlin. Dance Hub ATL will create a dance hub pulsating with energy of curiosity, beauty and experiment, bringing life and vibrancy to the space. They will share ideas among each other and invited artists of other disciplines, and share the inspiration and magic of unexpected art with passersby and invited audiences.

Floyd Hall (Suite 190) will present Seeing + Sounds, a multimedia installation that explores the effect of spatial design on conversation and content creation. Hall will design the public-facing space at the Cross-Pollination Art Lab as a place for creation, exploration and presentation of media content, including recorded audio, photography, and video. Hall will invite collaborators to participate in recordings that will either be streamed in real-time or published through on-demand audio or video platforms.

Genesis Park Adams aka FRANK/ie CONSENT (Suite B-180) uses elements of sound, movement, and tangible objects, to create colorful and confrontational worlds. Using “dream logic,” they practice making queered habitats that tell stories we may already know of, or something we’re familiar with, and skew it with care. Their work varies in aesthetic from bare and minimal, with the intention of immediate connection with the earth and other bodies, to extreme maximalist glitter prop explosion.

Matriarc Society (Suite 190), directed by Co-CEOs Solana Ramirez-Garcia and Kirsten Robin, is a Black and Latinx led non-profit organization dedicated to empowering local femme and womxn music makers. Guided by their mission, the new space will serve as a safe, free, exclusively femme studio space for music makers in Atlanta, and as an artist spotlight live music series.

Teller Productions, Scottie has utilized puppetry, storytelling, and textiles to create engaging, immersive family experiences throughout the Southeast. Scottie is excited to utilize Hambidge Cross Pollination Art Lab to create a Covid-safe, immersive art space. Serving one family pod at a time, the space will include small scale live performances and kinetic sculptures. Photo by Bartram Nason.

For the duration of the studio residency, Jasmine Williams and Sierra King (Suite B-170) will continue exploring the concept of “Archiving in Real Time.” Since 2016, Sierra has documented Jasmine and her artistic practice through photography, film and written mediums. Currently, Jasmine is developing a body of work titled, “AND WHAT?,” where she is exploring the hyper-awareness of self.

The lab will be open to the public. Face coverings are required within the space, and a limited number of people will be allowed inside at one time. For more information, please visit: www.hambidge.org.

For the latest news and project updates, follow Uptown on Facebook and Instagram at @uptownatlanta or visituptownatlanta.com.

About Uptown

Uptown is a hyper-accessible, 47-acre mixed-use community that brings the best of Atlanta together. As the largest mixed-use development in Atlanta to connect directly with MARTA and the city’s major pedestrian trails, such as the forthcoming Atlanta BeltLine and the South Fork Trail, Uptown combines 110,000 square feet of street-level retail, greenspace and art and one million square feet of Class A office space. Uptown is being redeveloped by private real estate investment management and advisory firm Rubenstein Partners, LP (Rubenstein). Redevelopment plans include upgrading building facades, streetscapes and greenspaces; activating the property with local retail, artist galleries, restaurants and events; and attracting office tenants who value working in a vibrant mixed-use environment. Atlanta has a Downtown, a Midtown, a Buckhead, and now, finally, an Uptown. To learn more about Uptown, visituptownatlanta.com and follow @UptownAtlanta on Facebook and Instagram.

About Rubenstein Partners

Rubenstein Partners, founded in September 2005, is a private real estate investment advisory firm with operations throughout the United States. The firm is led by its founder, David Rubenstein, and a group of senior real estate executives, and is focused on directing and managing office real estate investments in the U.S. Rubenstein Partners' predecessor company, The Rubenstein Company, LP and affiliates, founded in 1969, was one of the largest private owner operators of Class A office real estate in the Mid-Atlantic, owning and operating a portfolio of assets valued at approximately $1.2 billion at the time of its disposition in 2004. Since 2005, Rubenstein Partners has, on behalf of its investors and clients, invested in more than 22 million square feet of office real estate assets throughout the United States. For more information, visitwww.rubensteinpartners.com.

About The Hambidge Center:

For more than 80 years, the Hambidge Center has been nurturing creative talents within the arts and sciences at our 600-acre creative sanctuary in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Eight individuals are in residence at any given time – each has private accommodations and studio space, and shares communal dinners prepared by an in-residence chef. The public is invited to the Center on Saturdays for a series of programs that include artist talks, nature hikes, gristmill visits, gallery openings and other special events. Find out more about the Hambidge Center athttp://www.hambidge.org, and follow onFacebook,Instagram andTwitter.