Savannah's A-Town Get Down Art and Music Festival, the interactive art and music event that brings arts access to the city every February, is becoming much more than a single annual event. The organization, founded to honor SCAD student Alex Townsend who died in a car accident in 2010, is expanding to provide after-school and community programming throughout the school year to further their reach to the underserved.

"We decided it was time to take arts access a significant step further," says Tom Townsend, who founded the organization with his wife Jeanne Townsend. "So far, the community has come to us every February for 12 hours of hands-on art projects, live art demonstrations, and live music. Now we are going the other way as well -- taking the arts to them, to where they live. We are hoping to more than double our impact, really."

The first of the new programs is a collaboration with Loop It Up Savannah to bring a season-long series of creative arts programming to the children of Savannah. These programs falling under the title, Why I Love Where I Live, will engage students in three Title I Schools as well as three community centers in urban neighborhoods.  Through six arts residency programs in schools and community centers, students will spend afternoons throughout the fall and winter creating large-scale, colorful murals and sculptures, which will be featured behind the stages at the A-Town Get Down on February 27.

"It's no secret that violence is an unfortunate and growing reality lately in many of these neighborhoods,” said Townsend. “We hope to contribute to the other side of the picture -- help kids celebrate what's good about where they live, while at the same time, doing what the A-Town Get Down does every year -- introduce the transformative power of the arts to people who need them. And everybody needs them, really, especially these days."

“Loop It Up Savannah is just thrilled to be working with the A-Town Get Down to bring so much hands-on creativity and joy to the young artists of Savannah! Our goal is to build a community in which all members are physically and emotionally safe and feel comfortable being all they can be, every single day,” said Molly Lieberman, founder and director of Loop It Up Savannah. “The Why I Love Where I Live project will give students an opportunity to reflect on our community and celebrate what works! We believe that through making consistent opportunities for children to celebrate and share who they are, who their family is and what makes Savannah their home, we will inspire more of the elements that make this place a good place to live."

In recent years, stage backdrops have provided an opportunity to create something “very special, very emotionally impactful,” says Townsend. Recent, stunning backdrops have been created by Savannah artists including Katherine Sandoz, Jamie Bourgeois, and Experience Collective. Jose Ray, another celebrated, high-profile Savannah artist heads up the arts side of the festival every year.

“It has been a real honor to work with the A-Town Get Down, as their mission shares the principles of community and collaboration that I strive for in my own practice,” said Ray. “Through the last couple years, I have personally witnessed positive transformation in the youths involved with the ATGD programs, and I look forward to seeing them continue to flourish in the coming years. Programs in the Arts are often crucial for students who are searching for alternative outlets for their unique skills and talents, and I am glad that ATGD is fulfilling that need.”