East by Southeast Festival of the Arts

Discover the only arts festival in the Southeast featuring Asian-descended artists across all genres and media: East by Southeast Festival of the Arts hosted by Clarkston Community Center October 16-18, 2026. Experience how Arts & the Community come together to celebrate and empower us all!

🎟️ Tickets required for entry to most performances, workshops and panels. Visit EastXSoutheast.com for list of free programming and more information.

Festival Schedule (subject to change)

Friday Oct 16 5pm-10pm: Arts & the Community

FREE 5-8pm: Enjoy a crafts and food vendor market + Informational Fair with community and arts organizations

Evening Performances 7:30-10:00pm:

• Winners announced for GA AAPI HUB's "Keep it Reel" Contest
• Tiger Bomb Comedy and Comedy & Conversations with Munir Meghjani and David Perdue

Saturday Oct 17 2pm-10pm: Arts & the Individual 

Afternoon Sessions 2-7pm:

• 2:00-3:00pm Traditional Karate: The Art of Centering with Toru Shimoji (Jinsendo Martial Arts)
• 2:45-3:45pm Coloring Our Power-Political Poster Making Workshop with Asians Rising GA Alliance
• 3:45-4:45pm Acting Workshop with Matt Mercurio
• 4:45-5:45pm Know Your Rights Workshop with Asian Americans Advancing Justice- ATL
• 5:30-7:00pm Intro to WAACKING with WAACKLANTA

FREE 2-8pm: Enjoy a crafts and food vendor market + Live Visual Art with Broly Su, LAVINDEX, & Krystal Tran.

Evening Performances 7-10pm:

• Ruby Velle + Scott Clayton
• Angie Acedera + Josh Zilberman
• WAACKLANTA
• Atlanta Chinese Dance Company
• Mirai Kanai Eisa Taiko

Sunday Oct 18 2pm-10pm: Arts & the Business

Afternoon Sessions 2-6pm:

• 2:00-3:00pm World Building (for Storytellers): Techno Orientalism
• 2:45-3:30pm Frame by Frame: Filmmaking in ATL Panel with May Tjhang, Tony Poon, and Thang Ho (*DOOR PRIZE* RSVP for the panel for more info)

• 3:30-4:15pm Monolid Makeup with Hannah Koko Kim
• 4:00-5:00pm Working Title Playwrights: New Play Dramaturgy 101
• 4:00-7:00pm Kybo Studio Portrait Booth
• 5:00-6:00pm Brainspotting & IFS for Creative Blocks with Vivian Daniel Counseling

FREE 2-8pm: Enjoy a crafts and food vendor market + Family Programming with Brave + Kind Bookshop & Chinatown Mall Theatre Initiative.

Evening Performances 7-10pm:

• Improv-is-Asian with Phong Le
• Short film screenings: BLOOM by Glen Kwon, Ang Pagbabalik (Homecoming) by Chad Santo Tomas, and Khalas by Muhammad Khaerisman
• "Made in Japan" a Kathleen McManus Cabaret

East by Southeast (ExSE) takes its name from where artists with cultural ties from the “East” meets where they call home “Atlanta and the Southeast US.” Yes, we know it sounds like that other directionally-named festival (unlike them, we start in the east and end in the east)!