Kha Huynh thought she was just going to watch the Ice Dawgs make their debut at their brand-new home arena. (A 4-3 overtime win over the University of Tennessee, thank you very much.)
She didn’t expect a culture lesson.
Huynh, in town from Boston visiting a high school friend, went home with a newfound appreciation for Georgia’s music history, thanks to the UGA Special Collections Libraries.
Stairwell lights illuminate gold and platinum records from Georgia artists. The framed records line one of the walls in Akins Ford Arena, Athens’s newest performance venue. (Photo by Caroline Newbern)
The 8,500-seat Akins Ford Arena at the Classic Center opened in December on the eastern edge of downtown Athens. In addition to the Ice Dawgs, it’s also home to the new Athens Rock Lobsters of the Federal Prospects Hockey League, plus concerts and events.
One of the most engaging features of the Akins Ford Arena is the Georgia Music Collections exhibition that encircles the building’s concourses.
On a massive video screen on the eastern concourse, B-52s legend and Athens resident Cindy Wilson welcomes fans to the arena, inviting them to explore cases filled with memorabilia spanning a century of Georgia music and celebrating more than 200 of the state’s artists.
Instruments, T-shirts, shoes and boots, wigs, dozens of photos, and hundreds of posters and album covers are on display. Beyond the cases, interactive displays encourage fans to do more than just look. Kids (and the young at heart) can dance on a floor piano—similar to the one popularized in the Tom Hanks classic movie Big—while creating their own tunes.
The Georgia Music Collections exhibit provides an unparalleled opportunity to bring our work off campus and into the community to tell the evolving story of Georgia music history.” — Ryan Lewis, Georgia music curator for the Special Collections Libraries
During an intermission of the Ice Dawgs’ Jan. 20 debut on Akins Ford Arena ice, Huynh browsed the kiosks. She’d only learned the day before that the B-52s came out of Athens and knew the hit, “Love Shack,” but that was the limit of her knowledge of Classic City classics. She focused on the kiosk “Making a Scene,” admiring the avant-garde Mondrian-inspired style of Cindy Wilson’s dress.
“Literally two minutes ago, I wasn’t aware of Athens music history,” Huynh said. “Now I feel like I’m a part of the local scene.”
Filling the Cases
Guitars, posters, concert flyers, outfits, and records from various Georgia artists representing a variety of genres showcase the wide-ranging musical impact of our state. (Photo by Caroline Newbern)
Ten years ago, Paul Cramer, director of The Classic Center Authority, had a vision for the yet-to-be-built arena. More than just a performance venue, it would reflect upon the entire Athens community. But it wasn’t until a meeting with the UGA Special Collections Library that Cramer was drawn to the theme of Georgia music.
“There are Georgia artists who were the first of their kind,” says Katie Williams ABJ ’07, vice president of sales, marketing, and tourism for The Classic Center. “A lot of music from our state influenced what came in the future. To see these items on display again means a lot to people.”
UGA acquired the bulk of the music collection in 2011, when the Georgia Music Hall of Fame shut down. The collaboration between the Libraries and The Classic Center to share items from that collection at the new Athens arena began taking shape before it was even built.
All that was needed was someone to take charge.
“The Georgia Music Collections exhibit provides an unparalleled opportunity to bring our work off campus and into the community to tell the evolving story of Georgia music history,” says Ryan Lewis, Georgia music curator for the Special Collections Libraries. “We are connecting people to our mission in a way that meets them where they are.”
Do you know Georgia Music? An interactive exhibit puts arena visitors’ musical knowledge to the test. (Photo by Caroline Newbern)
Beyond the massive Hall of Fame holdings, the Georgia Music Collections have grown to include such treasures as James Brown’s cape in addition to high-profile objects on loan such as Duane Allman’s guitar. There is enough memorabilia to fill the Akins Ford cases for five years.
The launch of the exhibition has truly been a labor of love for Lewis, who was hired in January 2023 to put it all together. He created Spotify playlists attuned to the contents of each display case. He wrote trivia questions in the interactive “Do You Know Georgia Music?” kiosk, and he collaborated with researchers to collect facts about Georgia musicians that are presented at an interactive digital table. With the arena now open for business, Lewis leads tours of the exhibition as part of the Classic City’s Third Thursday activities.
The Georgia Music Collections and Akins Ford Arena represent just a fraction of the Special Collections Libraries full holdings. Cindy Wilson herself, as she concludes her welcome message, invites visitors to engage with even more moments in Georgia music history by exploring the Libraries’ galleries.
Visitors explore the main concourse of Akins Ford Arena, admiring display cases during an intermission of a UGA men’s club hockey game. (Photo by Chamberlain Smith/UGA)
