Atlas Performing Arts Center Announces ATLAS GALA 2019

Atlas Performing Arts Center announces its annual fundraising Gala to be held on Thursday, October 3, 2019, at 7 PM. The evening begins with cocktails, a live musical performance from the virtuosic guitarist, Matthew Mills, and culminates with exciting entertainment from Wammie Award-winning artists AZTEC SUN and A-Squad Entertainment.

To celebrate the artistic excellence of the Atlas in cultivating the next generation of artists and innovators, the Atlas will be receiving the Ovation's Stand for the Arts Award, sponsored by Comcast. Stand For The Arts, Ovation's signature arts advocacy campaign, is a national initiative to raise awareness, protect access, and encourage action on behalf of the arts. Through Ovation's commitment to invest in organizations that move our communities forward through leadership, empowerment, technology, and innovation, Ovation has donated over $15 million in direct support and in-kind media to arts organizations nationally. The Atlas Performing Arts Center is proud to be one of this year's recipients.

For tickets and sponsorship information, please visit www.atlasarts.org/gala or contact Pascale-Emmanuelle Nouama at 202.399.7993 ext. 109 or email pnouama@atlasarts.org. The Atlas Performing Arts Center is a nonprofit, 501-c-3 tax-exempt organization.

The Atlas mission is to bring people together through the arts to expand the reach and strengthen the bonds of its community. The Atlas is a historic and cultural anchor in Washington, DC. The Atlas presents contemporary work in theatre, dance, music, spoken word, and more. The Atlas supports and partners with DC arts makers - it's Resident Arts Partners - including Capital City Symphony, Mosaic Theater Company of DC, Joy of Motion Dance Center, and Step Afrika! The Atlas also leads in its arts education initiatives through its City at Peace youth development program and the Atlas' Stagecraft Training and Apprenticeship Program. In the winter, the Atlas produces its popular Intersections Festival that hosts 100's of artists and performing groups while entertaining and engaging 1000's of patrons in a

2-week-long festival. As the catalyst for neighborhood growth and change, the Atlas plays a major role in the regional creative economy and is where the arts, culture, and connection happen on H Street. In 2018, the Atlas was selected as a grantee of Bloomberg Philanthropies' Arts Innovation and Management Program.

Originally built in 1938, the Atlas Theatre was one of four movie theatres on the H Street Northeast corridor. After the riots of 1968, the Atlas, a community icon, ultimately saw its demise and became a dark and silent reminder of the once vibrant H Street. In 2001, Jane Lang, a philanthropist, and lawyer began discussing the renovation of the Atlas Theatre with its neighbors to determine the best possible use for the space. The group decided that the theatre and several storefronts would become a community-based performing arts center that would serve the blighted community. Spurred by Lang's vision, the Washington, DC government adopted a plan in 2003 to rebuild the corridor and identified the Atlas as a cornerstone of revitalization. In 2006, after a two-year renovation and construction period, the Atlas Performing Arts Center was born as a 59,000 square foot performing arts venue with four performance spaces, dance studios, offices, back-of-house facilities and an expansive lobby with a café. The Atlas is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is the proud recipient of the 2012 Mayor's Arts Award for Excellence in Service to the Arts.

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