Business & Tech

Stone Mountain Wins ARC Local Government Award

Patch exclusive: The city's arts microenterprise project is recognized by the Atlanta Regional Commission.

The city of Stone Mountain has won an award from the Atlanta Regional Commission for its arts microenterprise program, City Manager Barry Amos said.

Stone Mountain won ARC's CREATE Community Award in the category Regional Prosperity and Economic Development,  an ARC spokesman said. It was the first time Stone Mountain has won in the six years of the awards' existence, Amos said.

"We are ecstatic," Amos said. "We were competing against the entire 10-county metro area," and towns such as Sandy Springs and Dunwoody that have more resources and staff, he said.

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Stone Mountain's art microenterprise project, SMart, Inc.,  is the first of its kind in the state. SMart, also called the art incubator program, is supported by a HUD grant and helps artists set up studios downtown. The artists are required to take business and bookkeeping courses. The city subsidizes their businesses' rent, taking part of their sales income in return. 

Two SMart galleries opened last year and now have five artists' studios in them. Another two galleries plan to open in the next few months. See this  for more details. 

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The Atlanta Regional Commission's CREATE awards have five categories: Community Building & Involvement, Regional Prosperity and Economic Development, Environmental Sustainability, Application and Innovation in Technology, and Educational Excellence. The winners of the other categories were not immediately available from ARC.

The awards will be presented to city officials at a breakfast March 3.


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