The Civic League for Regional Atlanta

The Civic League has recently released Best Practices for Multicultural Festivals and Celebrations: Fostering Cultural Understanding in the Atlanta Region, by Susan Manikowski and John C. Thomas. One of the League's three 2009 research initiatives, this paper explores how multicultural festivals and celebrations bring together multiple cultural traditions and groups into engaging events involving representatives of different cultures as both presenters and audience members.  

This report examines “best practices” in these festivals and celebrations from around the U.S., with an eye toward how these events might be expanded and used to promote cultural understanding in the Atlanta Region.  Topics in the report include possible benefits of these festivals and celebrations; best practices for planning and staging these events; and possible strategies for initiating new multicultural festivals in the Atlanta region.

Upcoming cultural festivals in the Atlanta region:

Atlanta Greek Festival  - October, TBA

Atlanta Scandinavian Festival - Fall, TBA

Atlanta Turkish Festival - October, TBA

Atlanta Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival - September 11

Festival Peachtree Latino - August 22

Fiesta Atlanta - May 22

Marietta Greek Festival - May 14-16

Stone Mountain Highland Games - October 15-17

JapanFest - September 18 & 19