Why South Forsyth?

Anthony Rodriguez, a career non-profit leader, is proud to have been named Executive Director of the South Forsyth County Community Improvement District. Prior to joining the SoFo CID, Anthony was the Executive Director of the HUB404 Conservancy and President and CEO of Aurora Theatre, a professional theatre he co-founded 29 years ago. 

To date, Anthony’s greatest accomplishment has been the successful negotiation that relocated Aurora Theatre to downtown Lawrenceville in 2007. Under his leadership, Aurora became the second largest professional theatre in the state of Georgia, producing 850 events and entertaining more than 80,000 visitors each year. Aurora’s critical success inspired the City of Lawrenceville to invest in a $35 million campus expansion. The Lawrenceville Arts Center (LAC) opened in October of 2021, and Aurora continues to serve as the resident theatre company and management agent. LAC now serves as a cultural gathering place and an arts education incubator for the entire Metro Atlanta region. 

Anthony is a past Chair of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, the first Latino and first Arts Leader to hold that position. He served as Vice Chair of Arts for the Chamber and Chair of Partnership Gwinnett and serves on the National Steering Committee for the Latinx Theatre Commons. Anthony is a graduate of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Leadership Institute, Leadership Atlanta (#2classes) and the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures’ Leadership Institute and Advocacy Institute, all three exemplary programs for leaders who want to spearhead transformational change in community. He currently serves on various boards, both nationally and locally, including Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Treasurer), and he serves on the Advisory Board for Public Broadcasting Atlanta which includes the NPR station WABE and PBS station PBA30.

Anthony, born in New York, and raised in Atlanta, graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre.