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

Out on Film

Out on Film’s mission is to inform, entertain, educate and enrich the LGBTQ culture by showcasing films by, for and about the LGBTQ community and its allies. In 2020, it became an Oscar-qualifying film festival. This year, screenings begin on September 24 and take place at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema. Read our preview of the Festival.

Human Rights Film Festival 

The 8th annual Festival at Morehouse College takes place September 22 through September 26 and screens documentaries, features and shorts, along with a Creative Conference and filmmaker conversations.

Return Eternal: Echoes from the Cosmogram

Choreographer Julio Medina will present a new program based on his research into Indigenous Mexican cosmology on September 24, September 25 and September 26 at the Schwartz Center Dance Studio. If this new piece is anything like his first work in this vein, it will blow your socks off. That one was a unique and powerful group work, with the sun as the central theme. In Return Eternal, Medina and his Medina Movement Collective dancers will draw inspiration from moon symbology and explore cycles of life and death.

Here, Still

This exhibition brings together artists from Tiger Strikes Asteroid Greenville to explore the quiet power of the still life. The show opens with a reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on September 24 and will be on view through October 29.

Friday

Martin Puryear: Nexus

Since the 1970s, Martin Puryear (American, born 1941) has captivated the public with beautiful and thought-provoking works inspired by global culture, social history and the natural world. The High Museum of Art will be the exclusive Southeast venue for the most comprehensive presentation of his career in more than two decades. The exhibition, which runs from September 25 through January 17, features more than 70 works, from sculptures in wood, glass, marble and cast bronze to rarely shown drawings and prints.

Saturday

The Atlanta Contemporary Music Collective

The Collective will be at Emory Presbyterian Church for Build Together, featuring music by living composers that responds to the current moment, on September 26.

AIDS Walk Atlanta Music Festival & 5K Run 

This annual benefit for local AIDS service organizations takes place in Piedmont Park on September 26. Kelly Rowland headlines this year’s music lineup, with performances by Algebra Blessett and DJ Sed the Saint.

Sunday

Richard Goode

Spivey Hall’s season opens with one of the most celebrated pianists in the world, performing at 3 p.m. on September 27. The program will include works by Mozart and Schumann, along with a selection of shorter works.

Sunday in the Park featuring Tunes from the Tombs

Oakland Cemetery’s yearly celebration combines history with music. You’ll find historical tours, a Victorian costume contest, craft beer and cocktails, food trucks, an artist market, living history performances and more at Oakland Cemetery on September 27.

More things to do this weekend and beyond

Following last week’s weather-related postponement, the Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade has been rescheduled for September 26. The beloved Atlanta tradition will step off at 8 p.m. along the Southwest Trail … ​Brilliant Americana singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, who made her recording debut at the tail-end of the ’70s and who recently opened for Bob Dylan at Chastain, is coming back to town to play the Variety Playhouse on September 24 and September 25 … The Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces (AFFPS) keeps the city’s outdoor art calendar packed with festivals spread across metro Atlanta parks and neighborhoods throughout the fall, including the Old Fourth Ward Arts Festival on September 26 and September 27 … Atlanta Design Festival, September 26 through October 4, gathers organizations and creatives to host installations, exhibits, screenings and architecture tours, all centered around elevating the art of design … The KSU Wind Ensemble will perform Ryan Lindveit’s Color Theory, a KSU Commission and Georgia premiere, on September 29, and the ensemble will also bring us the Georgia premiere of D.J. Sparr’s Zephyr Roaring Thunder, featuring electric guitar soloist Sean Thrower. All performances take place in the Bailey Performance Center’s Morgan Concert Hall … For more than 40 years, downtown Duluth has hosted the annual Duluth Fall Festival. The Festival hosts arts and crafts vendors offering everything from paintings and photographs to jewelry and candles, all of it handmade. There’s also a parade, a 5K race, music and other live entertainment … SCAD AnimationFest is the nation’s largest festival that showcases cutting-edge animation and digital media arts techniques, technologies and trends alongside the work of student animators. Check out the 10th anniversary edition at SCADshow, September 23 through September 25 … An expanded Legendary Georgia Musicians in Watercolor by Jackie Dorsey will be on view at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art from September 26 through December 13. The original exhibition of 20 paintings took place at the Lyndon House Arts Center in Athens. The opening reception will be on September 26 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.  This exhibition was created to pay homage to the musicians who have called Georgia their home … Shuler King was born Frank Williams III in Sumter, South Carolina. When he isn’t on the road performing at comedy clubs and special events across the country, King works as a licensed funeral director and embalmer at his family’s funeral business. See him at Atlanta Comedy Club in Norcross at 7 p.m. on September 24, September 25 and September 27 and 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. on September 26.