Fox Gives Awards $1 Million to Preserve Historic DeSoto Theatre and Thomasville Municipal Auditorium

Atlanta Wire Staff 2 on May 9, 2026

Atlanta’s Fox Theatre extended its legacy of historic preservation across Georgia this week, with its philanthropic arm Fox Gives awarding $1 million in multiyear grants to two of the state’s most beloved cultural venues. The historic DeSoto Theatre in Rome and the Thomasville Municipal Auditorium will each receive $500,000 in long-term preservation funding, marking the first time Fox Gives has awarded multiyear grants to two recipients in a single year since the program’s inception in 2024.

The announcement was made at Fox Gives’ annual grant ceremony on May 6, fittingly during National Historic Preservation Month. Combined with $500,000 in single-year grants distributed across eight other Georgia theaters in the 2025-2026 cycle, Fox Gives’ total statewide investment for 2026 reached a record $1.5 million.

Paying It Forward: A Philosophy Born From “Save the Fox”

The grants reflect a philosophy rooted in the Fox Theatre’s own near-death experience. In the 1970s, Atlanta rallied around a community-led “Save the Fox” campaign to rescue the iconic Midtown venue from imminent demolition. That movement is now part of Atlanta cultural folklore and continues to shape how the Fox approaches its civic mission decades later.

“These historic spaces matter to their communities,” Fox Theatre President and CEO Allan Vella said. “We know firsthand the impact when a community comes together to save a local landmark. This is our way of paying that forward.”

Since its inception in 2008, Fox Gives has invested more than $5.7 million in historic theaters and cultural landmarks across the Southeast. Each multiyear grantee will receive their $500,000 across two to four years and is required to bring a 10% local match, ensuring community investment alongside the Fox Theatre’s contribution.

DeSoto Theatre: A Pioneer of Southern Cinema

The DeSoto Theatre in Rome holds a unique place in Southern entertainment history as the first theater to display sound film in the Southeast. The venue’s funding will support a phased renovation of its stage and backstage areas, including upgrades to dressing rooms, accessibility features, and core infrastructure.

According to Fox Gives, the investment is designed to improve safety and expand educational programming at the venue, allowing the historic space to continue serving as a working theater while honoring its architectural significance.

“What’s really exciting about these funds is that they are traditionally building blocks in communities where we hope other people see our investments and they locally want to make their own investment,” said Leigh Burns, director of community partnerships for Fox Gives.

For Rome, a city of roughly 37,000 residents in northwest Georgia, the DeSoto’s restoration represents both a cultural preservation milestone and a downtown economic anchor.

Thomasville Municipal Auditorium: Reopening a Century-Old Gathering Space

In Thomasville, located in southwest Georgia near the Florida border, the funds will support essential life-safety and accessibility upgrades at the nearly 100-year-old Auditorium, including fire suppression, structural repairs, and system improvements.

The City of Thomasville is contributing its own funding to the project, a partnership Fox Gives has highlighted as a model for community-driven preservation.

“I think what’s exciting about Thomasville is you see the city investing their own funding in this project and their own community saying, this is valid to us, this is a place where everyone can gather,” Burns said.

The 1,000-seat auditorium has been closed and is being prepared to reopen as a venue capable of hosting conferences, concerts, and major events. Fox Gives sees the project as both historic preservation and economic development, with the venue positioned to draw visitors and revenue back to downtown Thomasville once renovations are complete.

A Statewide Investment Strategy

Beyond the two flagship multiyear grants, Fox Gives distributed an additional $500,000 across eight other Georgia theaters in this year’s single-year grant cycle. Recipients are spread across the state, from Brunswick on the Atlantic coast to Sautee Nacoochee in the North Georgia mountains.

“Half a million for eight theaters across GA and then 2 additional theaters will receive half a million each,” Burns said.

The geographic spread reflects Fox Gives’ broader strategy: rather than concentrating preservation dollars in a single market, the program seeks to support cultural anchors in communities of varying sizes across the state, with each grant designed to catalyze additional local investment.

Why It Matters

The Fox Gives grants land at a moment when many small and mid-sized American theaters face mounting pressure from rising construction costs, deferred maintenance, and competition from streaming entertainment. National data from organizations including the League of Historic American Theatres has highlighted the financial strain on aging venues, particularly those in smaller cities without major institutional backing.

For Georgia, the Fox Theatre’s continued investment offers a counterweight to those pressures. The Fox itself stands today as a National Historic Landmark and one of Atlanta’s most prominent cultural destinations. By directing resources back to similarly historic venues across the state, Fox Gives is building what Burns describes as a network of “cultural anchors” that strengthen downtowns, support local businesses, and create shared experiences across generations.

“These investments support more than preservation alone,” Burns said. “They help spur community growth, strengthen local economies and ensure these historic venues continue serving as cultural anchors for generations to come.”

For the DeSoto Theatre and the Thomasville Municipal Auditorium, the grants offer something rarely available to small-city historic venues: long-term funding paired with the institutional backing of one of the South’s most successful preservation stories.

How Blue Sky Internet Solutions Approaches Cold Email Outreach

Atlanta Wire Staff on May 9, 2026

By: Amanda Reseburg

Nye Phillips, Operations Director of Blue Sky Asbestos Control, knew things could be done differently. In his years managing operations in a heavily regulated industry, he watched as solid businesses with great concepts struggled with lead generation.

Phillips knew from experience that inconsistent lead generation wasn’t just frustrating; it limited growth potential. When businesses fail to start meaningful conversations with the right prospects during follow-up, they easily go from scaling to stalling.

Businesses have tried to address inconsistent leads through paid ads, purchased lead lists, outbound tools, and referrals. However, these efforts often fell short in terms of bringing in consistent, qualified leads.

“The problem wasn’t a lack of effort,” says Phillips. “It was the approach.”

Phillips founded Blue Sky Internet Solutions on the principles of quality over quantity and personalized cold email best practices. “Many B2B cold email tools focus on volume,” he explains. “It’s an approach of throwing everything at the wall, hoping something sticks. But that doesn’t drive growth.”

Moving Beyond the Spray-and-Pray Cold Email Template

Traditionally, cold email has relied on scale, sending as many emails out as possible in hopes of achieving a relatively acceptable email reply rate. But this approach can often lead to poor engagement, damaged sender reputation, and emails that languish in spam folders, never reaching their intended audience.

Blue Sky’s mission was to change that model. Instead of flooding inboxes, the company focuses on smaller, higher-quality, targeted campaigns. The goal is to generate meaningful conversations with qualified prospects.

“Success isn’t measured by the number of emails sent or leads collected,” says Phillips. “It’s measured in replies.”

Realizing that customers didn’t need 1,000 names on a spreadsheet, Phillips and his team set about bringing real conversations with decision-makers to their cold email clients.

The Technical Side of Cold Email Deliverability

Messaging and targeting are critical in cold email marketing. But when messages fail before they even reach their intended target, companies need a cold email solution that focuses on the technical side.

Email deliverability is a highly technical process, and one that many B2B cold email vendors fail to fully understand. Factors such as domain reputation, authentication protocols, and sending behavior all play a role in ultimate deliverability. Without the proper technical set-up, even the best-written emails will go unseen.

Blue Sky addresses the technical side by managing the entire technical infrastructure of cold email campaigns through:

Setting up and warming dedicated sending domains
Configuring SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication protocols
Monitoring sender reputation
Adjusting sending patterns
Verifying prospect lists to reduce bounce rates and protect deliverability

All of this is done to help get emails seen by the recipients they are intended to reach.

A Transparent System for Better Cold Email Replies

Blue Sky also sets itself apart with its commitment to transparency and ownership. Instead of handing clients a black-box solution, the company’s approach allows them to maintain full visibility and control over their campaigns, from messaging to subject lines and deliverability. Every element is reviewed and approved before launching, ensuring alignment with the company’s voice, mission, and value proposition.

After an initial pipeline strategy call to explore whether Blue Sky’s approach fits the prospective client’s business, the team maps out what a custom system would look like for their needs. There’s no pressured sales pitch, just a conversation about fit.

If the prospective client decides to move forward, a 60- to 90-day build phase begins. During this time, Blue Sky develops the campaign foundation, including domain setup, prospect targeting, and email sequence creation.

Once the system goes live, it operates as an ongoing pipeline, delivering a steady flow of conversations without requiring constant hands-on management.

Cold Email as a System for B2B Outreach

Cold email has long had a reputation for being either intrusive or ineffective. Phillips believes this perception is largely based on poor execution and outdated cold email approaches.

“When treated as a system from that first email, one built on data, targeting the right email addresses, and technical precision, cold outreach can be very effective,” says Phillips. “Instead of blindly chasing leads, businesses can build a process that consistently brings qualified prospects to them.”

In a space that has been historically defined by guesswork, volume, and luck, Blue Sky Internet Solutions takes a different approach: fewer emails, meaningful conversations, and a focus on building a consistent pipeline.