NEWS BRIEF: Arts, city leaders honoring plane crash victims on 60th anniversary

The Woodruff Arts Center and the Atlanta City Council are honoring the memory of 130 local arts patrons who died 60 years ago in an airplane crash in Paris. The tragedy spurred the creation of the Memorial Arts Center in 1968; it became known as the Woodruff Arts Center in 1982 and now encompasses the Alliance Theater, High Museum of Art, Young Audiences, the 14th Street Playhouse and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

On June 3, Auguste Rodin’s sculpture “The Shade’’ will be adorned with flowers. The piece was presented to the city by France to honor the victims and sits at the center’s entrance. And on June 6 at 1 p.m., the Atlanta City Council will present a proclamation in honor of the date. “As we continue to increase access to arts education and impact our community’s cultural growth, we remember that our work and our campus embodies the passion, legacy, and mission of our founders,” said Woodruff CEO Hala Moddelmog. “They would be proud of how far the Arts Center has come and what it has achieved in the past 60 years.” reporternewspapers.net