The always-excellent folks at the W Atlanta-Midtown have given us the heads-up that this weekend the hotel will be filled to capacity and because Midtown is such a fun place to be, we need to talk about parking in the neighborhood.

The W has advised below.

The hotel is at capacity and there are several events in and around Midtown this evening— valet parking is expected to be at capacity. Therefore, we recommend the following options for a convenient arrival and departure experience:

—Do not expect to valet as it will very likely be full with overnight hotel guests.
—Arrive via taxi or car service.
—Self-park at Colony Square, attached to hotel
—Self-park at 14th Street Playhouse garage, across the street from hotel
—Take MARTA (the 27 bus stops at 14th Street Playhouse; train stops at Arts Center Station)

Wonderglo is an event that invites you to explore. There will be installations from the city’s favorite artists, performances include Atlas Sound, an exquisite dinner created by top chefs in Atlanta, and it’s happening all over the W. Take the glass elevator to the roof and you’ll see an epic rooftop art battle between Fabian “Occasional Superstar” Williams and Fahamu Pecou as they continue the proud tradition of “Atlanta’s Best Art Beef.”

The city of Atlanta has been rumbling from these art battles produced by the World Wide Arts Federation (WWAF) for several years now. As the Creative Loafing has noted, “the concept is more original than just about anything targeting grown-ups in hip-hop culture.” You’ve seen the wrestling smackdowns of WWE, you’ve done the monthly art strolls, but can you handle the raucous combination of the two!?

Let Fabian Williams’ alter ego, Exacto, explain how these battles work:

Throughout the evening we invite you to stroll through the W Atlanta Midtown and take in the installations from artists including Gyun Hur, Todd Murphy, Jason Kofke, Scott Ingram, and so many more!

Atlas Sound (Bradford Cox) ©Mick Rock, Windish Agency

Saturday night Atlas Sound (Bradford Cox of Deerhunter fame) will be working out their feral and delicious songs in a fantastic night of art, music, and magic.

Atlas Sound’s latest album, Parallax, was critically-acclaimed by the folks from Pitchfork, the New York Times, and Mojo (“profoundly beautiful” they exclaim). Cox’s songwriting is on display in Atlas Sound: a melange of intoxicating rhythm, noise, and urgent sincerity.

Below is a sumptuous song featuring Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab:

Wonderglo is a collaborative event between two stellar nonprofit organizations enriching the Atlanta communities: WonderRoot and gloATL. On the night of Saturday, March 24 the W Atlanta-Midtown will erupt with creations from Atlanta artists such as the Atlanta Opera, Fahamu Pecou, Gyun Hur, and a host of others. Featuring an exclusive dinner created by Atlanta’s favorite chefs as well as live and silent auctions, Wonderglo is not to be missed.

Come celebrate the beginning of Spring with us. Tickets start at only $25 and benefit both WonderRoot and gloATL.

The big event is in just over a week!

We’re so excited to have Acollective fresh from playing SXSW! Excited!

Acollective (Tel Aviv by way of London) play infectious pop described by NME as, “Think Tindersticks with Jonny Greenwood guitars; all warmly layered, nicely textured and tight. Truly eccentricity gone right.”

Peep this video for their song “Whiskey Eyes”

The 7-piece band is touring the States right now and we’re putting on our dancing shoes. Who doesn’t like a band that hangs with astronauts?

You can find them all over the place, including @joinacollective, facebook, and bandcamp.

The phenomenal night that will be Wonderglo is the creation of a host of artists and activators. You can see it in every element of our planning: we’ve talked about the handmade invitations, we’ve talked about the artist creating the tables, even the napkin rings are being created by an artist.

We’ve been fortunate to have photographer and all-around-inspirational-guy, Carlton Mackey, share his work with us in the above announcement.

Inspired by the events being created for our drive at the W Atlanta–Midtown, Carlton has created this series of images he calls Luminesce

You can see more of Mackey’s works here.

Michael Klapthor creates fantastic sculptures with clay and he’s creating something for your enjoyment when you arrive at Wonderglo.

Whether it’s wheel-thrown robots such as the H-12 above, or his animal companions inspired by Aesop’s Fables, Klapthor creates worlds we want to be a part of. On the evening of March 24 we are the lucky ducks that get to not only witness his live installation of a clay sculpture, but he has also agreed to create the napkin rings for our dinner!

Earlier we wrote about Justin A. Rabideau: that he’s one of the many artists creating items for our evening of splendor at the W Atlanta-Midtown on the 24th.

Today we’re sharing some behind the scenes magic going into creating this not-to-be-missed event. Below are sketches of what the tables Justin is creating look like:

Here’s what the whole megillah will look like:

the hand made invites are in the mail!

Wonderglo will be an unsurpassed event not only because WonderRoot and gloATL are such transformational organizations, but because of the fantastic collaborations enacted for the evening of March 24.

One such fabulous collaboration is coming from the youth of the Atlanta Music Project as they create a musical installation for Wonderglo. Are you familiar with AMP? Have a look at their Kickstarter video:

The Atlanta Music Project believes the pursuit of musical excellence leads to the development of confidence, creativity and ambition, thus sparking positive social change in the individuals and the communities they serve.

AMP is a nonprofit organization led by Dantes Rameau, bassoonist and part of the inaugural graduating class of the Abreu Fellows Program, a prestigious post-graduate fellowship at the New England Conservatory which trains musicians to lead El Sistema-inspired programs in the U.S. and beyond.

Dantes Rameau (L) and Carlton Mackey (R) Photo: MyTrueVision (2011)

Modeled on El Sistema, Venezuela’s national system of youth and orchestras, the Atlanta Music Project is a 5-day-a-week, after-school, youth orchestra and choir program targeting underserved communities in metropolitan Atlanta.

Justin A. Rabideau is a busy man. In addition to preparing works for two upcoming shows, he’s also been creating a table that will be available for auction during the evening of our event.

Rabideau is currently an “Artist in Studio” resident through The Creatives Project. This UGA graduate (MFA) has been reviewed in Art Papers, the Washington Post, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution. You can see his portfolio here.

Wonderglo will be an unparalleled experience: on the evening of March 24, 2012 the W Atlanta—Midtown will be the site of extraordinary experiences from the Atlanta Opera, gloATL, as well as performers we can’t reveal yet. The W has made their entire space available to us and we are thrilled to be working with the many textures and nuances this sophisticated space offers.

Thanks, Justin!

We think Pinterest is a great tool for sharing things we’re into.

We’re also nerdy, social media-savvy nonprofit-types and we really appreciated this tutorial for nerdy, social media-savvy nonprofit-types to use Pinterest.
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