Out of Hand’s Program Areas
Out of Hand has three programming areas: Theater, Dinners, and Impact. Whether we’re performing in a living room, launching discussions about race and social justice with art, or making plays with and for students facing the largest opportunity gaps in our community, we do it because we believe in the power of storytelling to bring us together, to change lives, and create stronger, healthier communities.
Each Season, Out of Hand produces Shows in Homes - one-act plays on community issues produced in living rooms across Metro Atlanta, and paired with cocktail parties and conversations on the issue with our partners. 2024’s Class Dismissed tackled classroom censorship in partnership with the ACLU of Georgia; 2025's How to Make a Home confronted homelessness and challenges in finding secure housing in collaboration with Partners for Home and Mayor Andre Dickens; and our 2026 show, Prisontown, will shed light on the impact of immigrant detention centers in partnership with El Refugio.
Previously known as Equitable Dinners, Out of Hand Dinners brings together strangers and friends from diverse backgrounds to talk about community issues over a meal, fueled by theater. Out of Hand Dinners is a partnership between the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, the Mayor's Office, The King Center, Fulton County Remembrance Coalition, Partnership for Southern Equity, and Atlanta Public Schools, among others.
Out of Hand Dinners includes:
We Hold These Truths
Out of Hand Dinners at Work
Out of Hand’s Impact programs include the Community Impact Lab, Creative Kids, and Community Collaborations.
The Community Impact Lab is a 6-month accelerator in arts-based community engagement. Through online modules, participants build skills to develop and implement community collaborations on social issues - and grow in appreciative inquiry, cultural competency, racial equity, and more.
Community Collaborations are co-created with civic leaders, nonprofits, and change-makers to address urgent issues. Projects have ranged from housing insecurity and racial justice to vaccine access and child trafficking prevention. By centering community voices, these collaborations use art as a catalyst for empathy, dialogue, and action.
Partner with us to spark the next collaboration in your community!
Creative Kids is a free arts education program that provides in-school and after-school classes in Atlanta’s most under-resourced schools. It equips students with creativity, collaboration, and communication skills to succeed in school and in life. In the 2024/2025 school year, Creative Kids served over 440 students at 7 schools with 532 classes, free to students and schools.