9 essential Atlanta arts events this weekend

Each week, ArtsATL curates a selection of the most exciting arts and culture events happening in Atlanta this weekend, highlighting nine must-see experiences. 

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Thursday

The Atlanta Black Theatre Festival

This yearly event brings together talented playwrights, actors, directors, visual artists and audiences to showcase original works that reflect the breadth and depth of history, life and experiences across the diaspora from September 3 through September 5 at Spelman College. Check back with ArtsATL on Thursday for a preview of the festival.

Dragon Con

Labor Day weekend means it’s time for Atlanta’s beloved science fiction and fantasy weekend. It’s one of the country’s most well-attended conventions of its kind, and, as always, the annual parade is likely to be a highlight. In addition to a long list of actors, they’ll have comic book artists and illustrators, authors, puppeteers, screenwriters, musicians, podcasters and more. Dragon Con takes over downtown Atlanta September 3 through September 7, with the parade happening along Peachtree Street beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, September 5.

Collective Geometries

On view at Kennesaw State University’s Zuckerman Museum of Art from September 2 through December 4, this exhibition examines geometry and pattern as foundational languages that artists use to organize, disrupt and re-imagine visual experience.

Naama with the Joe Alterman Trio

Neranenah, formerly the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival, is a nonprofit cultural event series with roots in Jewish culture and musical traditions. Next up in the series is Naama with the Joe Alterman Trio live at Eddie’s Attic on September 3. The New York City-based jazz vocalist is inspired by timeless composers such as Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart.

Friday

The Atlanta Contemporary Music Collective

The Collective returns to eyedrum on September 4 to present Play Together, a concert of chamber music that encourages spontaneity, curiosity and interaction with works by George Lewis, Mark Applebaum, Andrew Baker, Jeff Young and Karen Tanaka.

Ben Steele: World Engine

In this solo exhibition, Steele’s paintings appear as fragments of a singular story, depicting a universe that is carefully balanced between optimism and ruin. The show opens with a reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on September 4 and will be on view through October 18.

Saturday

Art in the Park

Marietta’s Labor Day weekend tradition will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year. The three-day juried fine art festival takes place on the historic Marietta Square in Glover Park and attracts more than 55,000 guests. It happens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. September 5 through September 7.

Inside Out / Outside In

Rampant Gallery will present a show of work by artists Rial Rye and Jeffrey Wilcox Paclipan. The exhibition will transform the intimate gallery into a visionary environment that challenges viewers to navigate the threshold between sorrow and joy while also creating space for the overlap between these two extremes. The show opens with a reception from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on September 5 and will continue through October 10.

Sunday

House in the Park

This annual house music festival begins at noon on the Sunday before Labor Day in Grant Park. This year features legendary house music DJs Kai Alce, Kemit, Salah Ananse and Ramon Rawsoul.

More things to do this weekend and beyond

Atlanta Black Pride Weekend is celebrating 20 years in 2026. The bulk of the celebration takes place in venues around Midtown and Downtown Atlanta over the weekend, including the host hotel, The Starling in Midtown, with the Pure Heat Community Festival happening in Piedmont Park on Sunday, September 6 … Emory Cinematheque, a series of professional film screenings offered by the Department of Film and Media and Emory College of Arts and Sciences, will undertake an in-depth exploration of the films of Spike Lee this fall with 40 Years of Brother Spike Lee. It begins on September 2 with a screening of a selection of episodes from the 2017 series update of Lee’s full-length debut film She’s Gotta Have It, originally released in 1986. It continues through December 9, when they’ll show Lee’s 2018 film BlacKkKlansman, which won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Presenters will introduce each film and hold post-screening Q&As for each screening, all of which take place on Wednesdays in Emory University’s White Hall … The Avett Brothers will be at Truist Park for a post-game concert on Tuesday, September 8 … The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra returns to Piedmont Park on Wednesday, September 9, with a free performance of orchestral favorites celebrating Atlanta … High Contrast’s Sidequest is taking over The Kitchen @ True North Provisions on Courtland Street in downtown Atlanta for a special Dragon Con week art show featuring a lineup of local artists, makers, weirdos and creative heavy hitters. It begins at 6 p.m. on September 3.