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What’s Happening: Black History Month, Village Theatre Big Comedy Blowout, The Great Escape, and more

DeKalb County Trending

What’s Happening: Black History Month, Village Theatre Big Comedy Blowout, The Great Escape, and more

Darci Smith and her sons Major. 8, on left and 10-year-old artist Mason on right, attend the Avondale Alliance for Racial Justice second annual Student Black History Month Art Contest awards reception at Finders Keepers Furniture and Décor on Saturday, March 5, 2022. Photo by Dean Hesse.
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By Lucas Hill, contributor 

Editor’s note: Starting April 3, our weekly “What’s Happening” feature will be distributed via our free email list on Monday mornings. Subscribers to our free list also get a daily email digest of recent Decaturish stories. To sign up for our daily email and events round up, click here.

DeKalb County, GA — Various events are happening this week in and around DeKalb County, including an Avondale Water-Wise Gardening Event, a Black History Month Celebration at DeKalb History Center and the opening of Fernbank Museum’s latest exhibit, “The Nature of Color.” Several local government meetings are also scheduled for this week.

Here’s what’s happening this week:

Inside Out: Glass Art by Lisa Schnellinger and Charlie Holden at GSU Perimeter College

Georgia State University Perimeter College will host an art installation of kiln-formed glass by Lisa Schnellinger and Charlie Holden at its Clarkston campus through April 2. On Thursday, Jan. 26, there will be an Artist’s Talk and reception from 4-7 p.m. 

“Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection” at the Carlos

“Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection,” on view at the Michael C. Carlos Museum from February 4 to August 6, 2023, is an exhibition about what objects can tell us about daily life, sacred life, and the hereafter in Ancient Egypt. The collection, named after King Senusret II’s pyramid village, Hetep-Senusret in the Faiyum, was gifted to the Carlos in 2018 by the Georges Ricard Foundation with the understanding that it would be conserved and used to promote knowledge not only about the rich funerary rituals, customs, and beliefs of the ancient world but also about the life of ancient objects over time. Several items in the exhibition highlight student and faculty research, technical and scholarly collaboration, methods of analysis and conservation and provenance tracing. Organized by Melinda Hartwig, curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern art, the exhibition focuses on the history of the Senusret Collection; objects of daily life; the beauty and protection of amulets and jewelry; religious votive statuettes that acted as donors’ magical participants in cultic practices; stela and reliefs; and burial items that provided for the eternal needs of the deceased. Burial objects include the coffin assemblage of the priestess of Osiris, Taosiris, which protected and transformed the wrapped body.

For more information, click here.

Event listing provided by a community supporter.

Black History Month Student Visual Arts Competition

The Avondale Alliance for Racial Justice is holding its third annual visual arts competition in celebration of Black History Month. This year’s theme is Fighting Black Oppression: Celebrating Change-Makers. Cash prizes will be awarded to elementary school, middle school and high school participants. All submissions will be due Feb. 15. The art contest awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, March 4, at 2 p.m. at Little Tree Art Studios, 2834 Franklin Street in Avondale Estates.

For more information, click here.  

Black History Month 2023 with DeKalb County Public Libraries

Through­out Feb­ru­ary, DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library will show­case African Amer­i­can per­for­mances, visu­al arts and cul­ture to cel­e­brate Black His­to­ry Month. Pro­grams and activ­i­ties will fea­ture musi­cians, per­form­ers, artists, authors and more, along with crafts, films, vir­tu­al pro­grams and edu­ca­tion­al ses­sions for peo­ple of all ages. Pro­gram high­lights include:

— African Beats: Titi­layo Dance Com­pa­ny on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 11, 1 p.m. — 1:45 p.m. at Wes­ley Chapel-William C. Brown Library. Cel­e­brate West African cul­ture and her­itage through the rhyth­mic per­for­mance of drums, songs, sto­ries and dance.

— Break­ing Ground on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 18, 11 a.m. — noon at North­lake-Bar­bara Loar Library. Break­ing Ground is a one-man fam­i­ly show pre­sent­ed by Jer­ry G. White that incor­po­rates the­ater, music, per­cus­sion and singing into a vibrant, inter­ac­tive and edu­ca­tion­al per­for­mance about five African Amer­i­can men who had to break down bar­ri­ers to achieve great­ness.

— Bo Legs: Mar­vin Arring­ton, Sr. – An Atlanta Sto­ry Film on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 25, 11 a.m. — 1 p.m. at South DeKalb Senior Cen­ter (1931 Can­dler Rd., Decatur, Ga.). DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library, in part­ner­ship with DeKalb Coun­ty Com­mis­sion­er Lar­ry John­son, will present a screen­ing of the film about one of Atlanta’s most sig­nif­i­cant polit­i­cal lead­ers, yet one of its least rec­og­nized. Lunch will be served. Reg­is­tra­tion required.

— Calvin Couther on dis­play through the end of Feb­ru­ary at Wes­ley Chapel-William C. Brown Library. Couther’s water­col­or and acrylic paint­ings reflect African Amer­i­can his­to­ry, com­mu­ni­ty and hope from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s.

Pro­grams are free and open to the pub­lic. Some events require reg­is­tra­tion.

For more information, click here.

Village Theatre Big Comedy Blowout

Join Village Theatre for a Big Comedy Blowout on Feb. 10 – 11 for a weekend of comedy in the Old Fourth Ward before the Theatre moves. The blowout will feature diverse comedy acts from around the city. The first weekend kicks off by highlighting favorite shows and cast members from Village Theatre history on Friday. On Saturday night, Black History Month is celebrated with an all-Black cast doing the signature format Improv A-hole.

For more information, click here. 

Saket Soni Discusses “THE GREAT ESCAPE”

On Monday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m., the Georgia Center for the Book welcomes author Saket Soni for a compelling and thought-provoking conversation about migration policy in the United States, the reality of twenty-first-century trafficking, and the true costs of climate catastrophe. “THE GREAT ESCAPE” is a rare literary achievement. With elegance, compassion, and remarkable storytelling gifts, Soni has written the definitive account of a historic struggle for justice, the tragic, hopeful, and true accounting of America today, of its sins and its promise. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is requested, but not required.

For more information, click here.

Water-Wise Gardening Event

Get ready for spring with a Water-Wise Gardening presentation at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 8, presented by the Garden Club of Avondale Estates at the Lake House at 59 Lakeshore Drive. Speaker Becky Griffin, the University of Georgia’s Community and School Garden Coordinator, will share methods for preventing water pollution in yards and gardens to keep groundwater and stormwater free of pesticides and other contaminants. She will also address solutions for reducing rainwater runoff. The Water-Wise Gardening presentation is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.

For more information, click here.

James Ponti in Conversation with Laurel Snyder – “City Spies: City of the Dead”

On Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m., James Ponti will host a special event at Little Shop of Stories to celebrate the release of the newest book in the beloved “City Spies” series, “City of the Dead.” Fellow author Laurel Snyder will help spill the beans on this exciting new story, answer questions from the audience, and sign books. Attend the event in your best spy outfit. This event is free to attend. However, you still need to “purchase” a ticket for every person in your group.

For more information, click here.

2023 Black History Month Celebration at DeKalb History Center

On Thursday, Feb. 9 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., join the DeKalb History Center for their 15th Annual Black History Month Celebration. This year’s program will be filled with soul-stirring gospel music and riveting talks about the role Black Church music has played in Georgia’s social and political arenas. CEO Michael Thurmond will provide the Welcome. Kenneth J. Lowe (Director of Worship & Arts Division, Atlanta Chapter, Gospel Music Workshop of America, Inc.) will resurrect the voices of the most powerful spiritual and gospel legends, both past and present. Lunch is included with ticket purchases. Sponsorships are available. 

For more information, click here.

Lauren Blackwood in Conversation with Jordan Ifueko – “Wildblood”

On Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m., come to Little Shop of Stories to see authors Lauren Blackwood and Jordan Ifueko in celebration of Blackwood’s newest YA book, “Wildblood.” Admission is free. However, you still need to “purchase” a ticket for every person in your group. You must purchase a copy of the book from Little Shop in order to enter the signing line for this event.

For more information, click here.

Longleaf Hospice’s Love Notes From the Heart

On Friday, Feb. 10, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. please join Longleaf Hospice at the Corner Cup Coffee for “Love Notes from the Heart,” their first community service project of the year. For this community event you will be creating Valentine’s Day cards and decorating boxes to hold candy and love notes from the heart for the amazing families on Hospice service and nursing home residents. Registration is required. 

For more information, click here.

Dabney Adams Hart Lecture: Oreathia Smith

The Department of English at Agnes Scott College welcomes screenwriter Oreathia Smith for the 2023 Dabney Adams Hart Lecture on Friday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m. Smith is a screenwriter and screenwriting instructor. While in graduate school, she interned at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta and Perry’s 34th Street Films in Los Angeles as well as working as Devon Franklin’s intern in the Creative Production Department at Sony Pictures Studios. Smith also had the opportunity to write on Issa Rae’s hit web-series “Mis-Adventures of an Awkward Black Girl.” She has taught screenwriting at the University of Southern Mississippi and Agnes Scott College. Smith’s class at Agnes Scott focuses on Black Horror Cinema and examines the uncomfortable paradigm of social/political injustices of Black Americans within the genre. Audiences are forced to consider what exactly constitutes the horror: the dramatic situation of the screen story or the sociopolitical context of the screen story. In this course, students will encounter the history of Black horror and seek to define the tropes and parameters of this now hugely popular and evolving genre.

For more information, click here.

Oakhurst Farmers Market 

The Oakhurst Farmers Market will be open on Saturday, Feb. 11, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Sceptre Brewing Arts, 630 East Lake Drive in Decatur. Find all of your freshest produce, meat, delicious baked treats, and more among the weekly vendors. Additional offerings include live music and chef demonstrations featuring seasonal recipes.

For more information, click here.

Adventures In Color at Fernbank Museum

On Saturday, Feb. 11, Fernbank Museum invites you to join them for a day of exploration as they celebrate the opening of their newest exhibit, “The Nature of Color.” The museum will host a fun-filled time with a variety of color-themed crafts and activities, including Little Shop of Stories story times, a chance to learn about Holi, the Festival of Colors, Colorful Cabbage Chemistry, jester hat designing, pinwheel making and a Color Scavenger Hunt. This event is included with general admission and is free for members.

For more information, click here.

Event listing provided by a community supporter

Educator Open House at the Carlos Museum

On Saturday, Feb. 11, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., join the Carlos Museum for a festive free day for educators. In celebration of the new special exhibition, Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Art from the Senusret Collection, enjoy guided tours, participate in art making activities that you can replicate in your classroom, and explore all things ancient Egypt, from hieroglyphs to Horus.   Guided tours will be offered at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Admission is free for educators and administrators with ID, and up to two guests. Registration is required. 

For more information, click here.

Event listing provided by a community supporter

Poetry Reading by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón

Current US Poet Laureate Ada Limón will give a public reading at Emory University on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 3 p.m. in the Glenn Auditorium, open to the public at no charge. Books will be for sale at the reading, with a signing immediately following the event.

For more information, click here.

Avondale Estates Farmers Market 

Join neighbors, visitors and vendors on Sunday, Feb. 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the Avondale Estates Farmers Market, located in the parking lot of My Parents’ Basement, 22 N. Avondale Road. Browse a colorful array of locally sourced food and goods. Items offered include baked goods, cheeses, eggs, homemade jellies, meats, and produce.

For more information, click here.

Bach Bowl 2023 at the Schwartz Center

Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta’s annual pre-Super Bowl celebration of Johann Sebastian Bach will be held on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 4 p.m. in Emerson Hall at the Schwartz Center. Hear Bach’s tour-de-force work, the Goldberg Variations, as you’ve never heard them before in “A Very Varied Goldberg Variations.” Coach Ransom has assembled a Pro-Bowl team including 10 different pianists, a jazz pianist, the Vega String Trio, a Brass Trio, two different organs, harpsichord, and even a vocal ensemble. This concert is free of charge, no tickets or registration necessary, with free parking available at Fishburne deck.

For more information, click here.

Upcoming Local Government Meetings​​

The Stone Mountain Planning Commission will meet on Monday, Feb. 6, at 6:30 p.m.

The Tucker Downtown Development Authority will meet on Monday, Feb. 6, at 6:30 p.m. at Tucker City Hall, 1975 Lakeside Parkway.

The Decatur City Commission will meet on Monday, Feb. 6, at 7:30 p.m. in person at Decatur City Hall, 509 N. McDonough Street, and over Zoom.

The DeKalb County Committee of the Whole will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 9 a.m. at the Manuel Maloof Center, 1300 Commerce Drive.

The Stone Mountain Mayor and Council will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 6:30 p.m.

The Clarkston City Council will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. over Zoom.

The Decatur Planning Commission will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. at Decatur City Hall and over Zoom.

Tucker Traffic Court will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 9 a.m. at Tucker Municipal Court, 1975 Lakeside Parkway.

The Avondale Board of Mayor and Commissioners will meet on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 6 p.m. over Zoom.

The Decatur Development Authorities will meet on Friday, Feb. 10 at 8 a.m. in person at Decatur City Hall and over Zoom.

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