Out of Hand works at the intersection of art, social justice, and civic engagement. We help create a more just world through programs that combine theater and film with information and conversation.

Since 2001, Out of Hand has collaborated with dozens of community partners to produce programs that combine art to open hearts, information to open minds, and conversation to process feelings and thoughts and make a plan for action. Our programs include Equitable Dinners, Shows in Homes, Community Collaborations, Creative Kids, and the Institute for Equity Activism. All of our programs are based on two pillars, racial justice and economic justice, and they take place in homes, schools, businesses, houses of worship, public spaces, and on Zoom.

Out of Hand Theater is choosing Anti-Racism. We are choosing to use our expertise in theater to usher our city, our state, and our nation to the intersection of arts, social justice, and civic engagement in service to building a culture of Anti-Racism.

We are compelled by the legacy of Atlanta, Georgia, the traditional land of the Creek Indian People; known as the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement. If there is anywhere to take a stand for Anti-Racism, it is here: The city where Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, Former Ambassador Andrew Young, and Congressman John Lewis built the infrastructure for what is known as the Black mecca. A title given to name a city that has been known as a center for Black wealth, higher education, political power and culture. Home of the first successful African American daily newspaper in the United States. Home of The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Morris Brown College, the first College in Georgia established by Blacks, and Sweet Auburn, known as the “richest Negro street in the world,” by John Wesley Dobbs, and home to The King Center, founded by Coretta Scott King. 

We are increasingly aware that the city of Atlanta has the greatest income disparity in the United States, and those inequities impact African Americans at the highest rates. As an organization with a legacy of white leadership, Out of Hand Theater recognizes we are still at the beginning of our journey. As a company working in racial justice, we are obligated to do more. While we have collaborated with many community partners to address structural and systemic inequities and injustices in Metro Atlanta, we must take an even more committed stand.

We make no claims to be experts in Anti-Racism or race equity. We are committed to be students and continue on a path of learning, and we are committed to take actions in alignment with the future we are committed to creating.

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Listen to U.S. Congressman John Lewis’ interview on Sidewalk Radio below!