The WABE Phone Booth at the Atlanta Cultural Exchange (Sherri Daye Scott/WABE)
For eight days this summer, the 8th floor of The CTR became Atlanta’s cultural living room, the Atlanta Cultural Exchange — a City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs activation tied to FIFA World Cup 2026.
WABE set up a recording booth there, styled after a vintage payphone, and asked visitors and locals what stands out about Atlanta’s creative spirit. More than 100 people stopped by, from first-time visitors to longtime locals.
Here’s some of what they shared.
Christopher Boyd stopped by with his family at the FIFA Fan Experience and had a message for WABE directly:
“Thank you, WABE, for being a trusted voice in Atlanta for many, many years. We’re grateful for this activation here at the FIFA Experience, and thank you so much for again just being someone we can lean on and trust in throughout the experience of life.”
Another visitor summed up the city’s creative pull in a single breath:
“Atlanta’s creative energy… it’s very unique, and I feel like anyone here can show and express themselves freely, and that’s very inspiring. That’s what stands out to me.”
Cam, a Clark Atlanta University student from College Park, left one of the longest messages. Beyond creative energy, he talked about what he thinks the city still needs:
“I think Atlanta’s missing a little bit more of diverse food. We’re really stuck on chicken wings and lemon pepper … I think we have a lot more going on.”
He also traced his sense of the city back to its civil rights history:
“I felt like the world was at my fingertips with the CNN Center, the King Center, the Civil Rights Movement being the cradle of liberty, justice in this country … We had so many civil rights leaders — John Lewis, Ralph David Abernathy, Julian Bond, Martin Luther King.”
And on what he hopes visitors take away, and what he hopes for the next World Cup:
“I want people to know that we’re friendly people … the South has a lot to say. … Next time the World Cup comes around, I want our city to be a bigger part of the map … Houston, New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Dallas — I want Atlanta to be on that list, too.”
Visitors take in the gallery space surrounding the WABE Phone Booth at the Atlanta Cultural Exchange (Sherri Daye Scott/WABE)
More of WABE’s World Cup coverage
The booth is just one way WABE has documented Atlanta’s World Cup summer. In “Andrew Dosunmu’s ‘The African Game’ comes to Atlanta’s ADAMA,” WABE Arts spoke with ADAMA founder Fahamu Pecou about an exhibition of African football fan culture on view at Pittsburgh Yards through July 25.
For a longer view of how Atlanta got here in the first place, WABE’s “What Makes Atlanta a World Cup City?” video series digs into the city’s history, infrastructure and the civic leaders who helped position Atlanta to host eight matches this summer.
Tuesday also marks the Atlanta Cultural Exchange’s final day — the close of eight activation days that run from June 14 through July 14 at The CTR.
