The World Cup crowds have gone home, and on Thursday, August 20, 2026, downtown threw a party for the people who painted the walls they walked past. The HOME TEAM Celebration, held from 6 to 10 p.m. at Gallery FC inside The CTR at 190 Marietta Street NW, Suite 221, honored 'the 100-plus artists, assistants, producers, and community partners who helped make Atlanta brighter and more welcoming ahead of the World Cup,' in the words of the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, which promoted the free event in its Downtown Navigator.
The murals were one of the most visible pieces of Atlanta's World Cup preparation. Between the district's own arts-and-activation program - which counted 4,328 square feet of new murals in 2025 alone and promised more in 2026 - and the city's Rise ATL and neighborhood-level campaigns, dozens of new works went up along the walking routes between MARTA stations, the stadium, and the fan festival at Centennial Olympic Park. Sarah Lawrence's crosswalk design honoring Atlanta's global legacy, the Folio House Mural Jam at the Constitution Building, and the new murals around Summerhill's Rapid A-Line corridor were all part of the same push.
Gallery FC is a fitting host. The gallery is part of The CTR, the reinvented former CNN Center that held its grand opening on June 12, 2026, on the eve of Atlanta's World Cup matches, and the space was conceived as a venue for the soccer-adjacent culture the tournament brought with it. 'Meet the people behind the city's murals and public art, raise a glass to their work, and celebrate the creativity and community that make Atlanta home,' the invitation read. 'Free and open to all.'
It is the kind of after-party a city rarely bothers to hold. Host cities are judged on stadiums and transit; the artists who make the walk between them worth taking usually get a line in a press release. For one night in August, downtown gave them the room.
Source: Downtown Navigator, August 12, 2026 (Downtown Atlanta Inc.), published August 12, 2026.
