Dunaway Gardens owner Tena Clark talks becoming a Sundance lab location

by Sammie Purcell

While Atlanta was in the running to become the new host city of the Sundance Film Festival back in 2024, the festival ultimately went with Boulder, Co. as a replacement for Park City, Utah. But in November, Dunaway Gardens announced via press release that it would be the new home for the Sundance Institute’s Episodic Lab program, bringing a little piece of Sundance to Georgia.

For Dunaway Gardens owner Tena Clark, it felt like a full circle moment.

“The first time I ever saw this place and learned the history of it, I thought of Sundance,” Clark said. “Wouldn’t it be amazing to have Sundance here?”

Dunaway Gardens was initially founded in 1915 by Hetty Jane Dunaway, an actress who opened the land as a sort of performing arts training ground. During its heyday, the Gardens counted famous figures such as Walt Disney and Tallulah Bankhead among its guests, and housed up-and-coming entertainers such as Minnie Pearl.

Originally from Mississippi, Clark is a successful songwriter and music producer who has worked with artists like Chaka Khan, Dionne Warwick, and Gladys Knight. She moved from Los Angeles to Serenbe a decade ago and purchased Dunaway Gardens in January of 2022. From the beginning, she knew she wanted Sundance to be a part of the new Dunaway experience.

“I have been a big fan of Sundance for a couple of decades. I always go to the Sundance [Film] Festival, I was very well aware of the Institute. I knew so many of the people involved,” she said. “When I bought Dunaway, I started talking to them about coming here.”