By John Hope Bryant, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Operation HOPE, Inc. Starting today, Operation HOPE will officially open its first HOPE Inside office in DeKalb County. I had the pleasure of attending the grand opening ceremony last week for HOPE Inside RBC Bank DeKalb County at the AEI StartUp Factory in Stonecrest. This was all […]
Author Archives: Thought Leader
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Operation HOPE and U.S. Comptroller of the Currency hold bus tour & roundtable discussion on revitalizing neighborhoods, CRA Reform in Atlanta
By John Hope Bryant This past Friday, Operation HOPE partnered with the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting and his team for a Bankers Bus Tour through several neighborhoods in Atlanta. The main focus was on the proposed updating and revision of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The act encourages banks to lend money to help revitalize neighborhoods through investments, lending, […]
Posted inArts & Culture Seen, Thought Leader
What To Do With 65 Masterworks
By Claudia Einecke – Frances B. Bunzl Family Curator of European Art, High Museum of Art Among a curator’s many responsibilities, installing exhibitions is my favorite. It is the most creative aspect of my job, as my decisions about how paintings and sculptures are arranged in a gallery shape how our visitors experience and understand […]
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Bringing the Arts to our Nation’s Heroes
By Courtney Blount, The Home Depot Foundation Deep-rooted culture. It is one of the many similarities between The Home Depot and its beloved hometown, Atlanta. That’s why when it came time for the home improvement retailer to connect with its hometown in another meaningful way, they merged two of its Foundation’s passions (serving veterans and […]
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Growing Old With Your Money
By Anita Ward, President Operation HOPE My parents, like many other Americans, relied primarily on Social Security for their retirement income. They were raised when the country was still reeling from the Great Depression and money was not a topic for a family discussion. They were unprepared and unaware, and they were not alone. […]
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The Realm of Movement Research
By Lori Teague, Director of Emory Dance and Movement Studies ProgramMovement is a language that captures connections between the realm of the body and the world. It is a manifestation of how we see, relate, act, and communicate. And through our own movement, we come to know ourselves; we learn to articulate emotion, reveal curiosities, […]
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Nourishing Atlanta’s Arts and Education Community
By Liz Davis and Rebecca Pogue, Alliance Theatre On Behalf of the Woodruff Arts Center Educator Conference Team Imagine that you are a seventh-grade teacher, and you have just completed your fifth year in the classroom. On the first Tuesday in June — the first Tuesday that you are not contractually obliged to be anywhere […]
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Ad Nauseam: A Note from the Writer and Director
By Megan Leahy, writer and director for Ad NauseamIt’s easy to find a woman that is outraged, frustrated or upset with the way she and other women are treated. As terrible as that is, there’s also great comfort and power in sharing our experiences, and it’s been inspiring to see so many brave women of […]
Posted inArts & Culture Seen, Thought Leader
Arts Leaders Come in All Sizes
by Boyd Baker, Founder of Community Arts Live and Good Gracious Show When you think of an “arts leader,” what comes to mind? Do you see a museum director, a city council member, or a movie star?Well, I am definitely none of those, but I am a long-time Atlantan who does his level best to promote […]
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An Art Challenge for Atlanta
by Andrew AlexanderA tough but beloved professor of art history gives all of her new students a difficult first assignment. They must submit, for her notoriously demanding scrutiny, an intensive research paper about a single work of art.That’s pretty intimidating as it is, but before the students pick up one book, before they visit the […]
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Are the arts lost in translation?
by Carlton Keith Taylor, Jr. I am the eldest of two boys. My baby brother, a junior at Southwest DeKalb High School, is no longer half my size. He has grown into a respectable, observant, and well-informed young man with a passion for video games and making people smile. As we approach his high school […]
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Opera for young audiences: Inspiring the next generation of arts lovers
By: Jessica Kiger, Audience Development & Education Manager, The Atlanta OperaThere’s nothing quite like the roar of thousands of cheering teenagers, but they weren’t at a Friday night football game – instead, it was a Friday afternoon at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, where 1,600 students attended the final dress rehearsal of The Atlanta Opera’s […]
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SunTrust and BB&T: Raising the bar on financial inclusion
Positive and sustained upswings in the U.S. economy are driving changes in business climates and conditions for social good. The first half of 2019 heralded a new era in financial services and delivered supportive conditions for bank mergers. First to bat – SunTrust and BB&T with a homerun predicted for the banks, their shareholders and […]
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Magical Lessons Learned in Music
by Kaitlin Gress, Manager of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and Interim Director of Education at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra “Ahh, music! A magic beyond all we do here!” Albus Dumbledore (and J.K. Rowling) understood the fundamental importance of it. In my short time as a music educator, I have witnessed many magical aspects of […]
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Art Does Make You Smart
A new study validates arts education programming By Alvin Townley Supporters of the Woodruff Arts Center invest generously to provide arts education programming to nearly 200,000 students and children each year. Yellow school buses constantly encircle the Center’s midtown campus as they bring students from 150 of the 159 counties in Georgia to experience the […]
Posted inFinancial Inclusion, Thought Leader, Uncategorized
HUMPTY DUMPTY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
By Anita Ward, President Operation HOPE, Inc. A new era for small business emerged a few years ago and most aspiring entrepreneurs missed it. Still reeling from a decade during which the U.S. experienced a dramatic 36% drop in new start-ups, many prognosticators and small business owners alike were caught unaware and unprepared. The […]
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HOPE Global Forum: Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator
Power-packed with propelling inspiration and meaningful collaborative work, 150 participants will access coaching, industry influencers, tools and resources, a business pitch, and networking. The Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator targets the best and brightest innovators, change agents and creators from across the country. Collectively, these women will transform their communities and, by extension, the larger economy through […]
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The Slogans of Management
Photo above: Members of the Synchronicity Staff. From left to right – Rachel May Producing Artistic Director, Emma Calabrese Development Director, Maddie Mahood Marketing Manager, Celise Kalke Managing Director and Ashley Earles-Bennet Social Content Director. Celise Kalke, Managing Director, Synchronicity Theatre www.synchrotheatre.com This summer I made a career pivot from work within the literary world […]
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Featured Speakers for the 2019 HOPE Global Forum
HOPE Global Forums | 2019 Annual Meeting May 29 – 31 | Hyatt Regency | Atlanta, GA The 2019 HOPE Global Forum is quickly approaching. This year’s theme is A Pathway to Prosperity: Building an Inclusive Economy. Featuring a diverse group of industry leaders, HGF offers a unique environment to discuss future trends in economic policy, share […]
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Atlanta’s young “digitized” culture matters
By Loli Lucaciu, Marketing Manager at The Woodruff Arts Center “You matter – your thoughts and feelings matter!” Iyanla Vanzant, an American inspirational speaker, lawyer and teacher, was shouting at me on my way to work this morning. While I’m no Iyanla Vanzant speaking on Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations, I second her fired-up statement, especially as […]
