Atlanta Magazine
Atlanta s New Way: 60 voices on the city s past, present, and future
Sixty years, three generations, six decades that’s how long we’ve covered the city. To celebrate, we talked with 60 of you about where we’ve been, where we are, and what’s next.
The editorial team immediately loved the idea of “60 Voices” for this May issue, which marks
Atlanta magazine’s 60th year. Talking with people from all over the metro area seemed like a good way to take stock of our city. Needless to say, all of us Atlantans have done a lot of soul-searching over the last 12 months, whether we were holed up at home or suiting up for yet another 12-hour shift. However, as this issue went to press in March, Governor Brian Kemp just had announced that any adult over age 16 can be vaccinated. So, we may not have emerged from a year of malaise quite yet, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
Photograph by Audra Melton
T. Lang | choreographer, dancer, owner of the Movement Lab incubator; artistic director of T. Lang Dance
Chicago native T. Lang chose to radically change her life with a move to Atlanta 12 years ago after living in New York City. And she’s now firmly enmeshed in a changed South where her family formerly dwelled for decades. “This is my home,” she says. “I own property, I own space, I’m a tenured professor at Spelman.” For Lang, Atlanta is a place of possibility, for both Black and white people, to reclaim and remake the notion of the South for the greater good.
Atlanta Magazine
60 Voices: 5 questions for the Atlanta’s new guard
We asked young leaders in fields from business to transportation about the future of Atlanta
What do you love about Atlanta?
I love that it’s not industry or artistry, it’s both. If you are a corporate CEO or a maker, an artisan, Atlanta is a place where you can come and thrive. I’ve been in this place where I’ve been constantly thinking about the Roaring ’20s, the Harlem Renaissance. I feel like Atlanta is going to be the new Harlem.
What is Atlanta’s most pressing challenge?
When did you know that there was something special about “Atlanta Influences Everything” as both a slogan and an ethos?
When the world started thanking Atlanta for “saving democracy,” it made me realize that although Atlanta Influences Everything as a consultancy was established in 2015, never before have those words rang as true as they did after November 3, 2020, and January 5, 2021 where people from disparate sectors who may have never even met or collaborated before are saying the same, unifying rallying cry about this imperfect city they all find themselves living, working, and creating in.
I look often at how it came together in Austin. Austin is known for Tex-Mex and its live music scene but, most notably, South by Southwest. They have been able to leverage that “Keep Austin Weird” culture and draw major brands like Oracle and Tesla.
Atlanta Magazine
60 Voices: Nothing demonstrates Atlantaâs potential like its thriving entrepreneurial scene
âPeople from disparate sectors who may have never even met or collaborated before are saying the same, unifying rallying cry about this imperfect city they all find themselves living, working, and creating in.â
When did you know that there was something special about âAtlanta Influences Everythingâ as both a slogan and an ethos?
When the world started thanking Atlanta for âsaving democracy,â it made me realize that although Atlanta Influences Everything as a consultancy was established in 2015, never before have those words rang as true as they did after November 3, 2020, and January 5, 2021âwhere people from disparate sectors who may have never even met or collaborated before are saying the same, unifying rallying cry about this imperfect city they all find themselves living, working, and creating in.