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-9pm: Arts & the Community

• Informational Fair with community and arts organizations
• Winners announced for GA AAPI HUB's "Keep it Reel" Contest
• Tiger Bomb Comedy and Comedy & Conversations with Munir Meghjani and David Purdue

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

• Afternoon Sessions - Traditional Karate: The Art of Centering, Acting with Matt Mercurio, Designing Political Posters with Asian American Advocacy Fund, Know Your Rights with Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta, and WAACKLANTA: Intro to WAACKING!
• Enjoy a crafts and food vendor market + live visual artwork and an interactive installation: place a silent bid to purchase one of the pieces created live that day.
• Evening Performances - Ruby Velle + Scott Clayton, Angie Acedera + Josh Zilberman, WAACKLANTA, Atlanta Chinese Dance Company, and Mirai Kanai Eisa Taiko

Sunday Oct 18 2pm-9pm: Arts & the Business

• Afternoon Sessions - Brainspotting & IFS for Creative Blocks, Monolid Makeup with Hannah Koko Kim, World Building: Techno Orientalism, Film Production Panel, New Play Dramaturgy 101 with Working Title Playwrights, and Kybo Studio Portrait Booth
• Enjoy a crafts and food vendor market + family programming with Brave + Kind Bookshop & Chinatown Mall Theatre Initiative
• Evening Performances - Improv-is-Asian with Phong Le, Short film screenings, 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)!