The Arts
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Porchfest 2025: Here’s Some Itinerary Suggestions
The annual Historic Athens Porchfest is coming up on Sunday, Oct. 19, and students in Kyser Lough’s First Year Odyssey course on music journalism and Athens have scoured the 200+ Porchfest band lineup to build a few custom, themed itineraries for attendees. We’ll give you the first five shows to…
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Sustainable Merch Finds a Home in Athens’ Music Scene
In Athens, a town known for its DIY approach to music, local bands and students are rethinking a critical part of the music industry: merch. Right now, streaming accounts for 84% of recorded music revenues in the United States. The thing is, musicians aren’t earning the majority of their revenue through collecting…
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From Load-In to Lights-Out: What It Takes to Keep Athens’ Iconic Sound Alive
Long before the first chord rings through the Georgia Theatre and hours after the last fan files out of downtown Athens, Colm O’Reilly is still working — loading out gear, wrapping cords and preparing for tomorrow’s show. He’s been there since 7 a.m. “When people think of Athens’ music scene,…
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Voices That Shaped The South: Legacy of Georgia’s Female Writers
Georgia’s women writers — from Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind” to Flannery O’Connor’s haunting Southern Gothic tales — have played a key role in shaping and redefining the landscape of Southern literature. At the Richard B. Russell Special Collections Library in Athens, the archives reveal the legacies of these…
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Keeping Athens In Tune: How Two Venues Built a Music Legacy
Athens has long been a birthplace of musical innovation, launching acts like R.E.M., the B-52s and Widespread Panic. This project explores how two of its most iconic venues, the Georgia Theatre and the 40 Watt Club, collaborate to sustain the city’s vibrant music scene. Through interviews with venue staff, we…
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Beyond the Stage: Jim Wilson, Legacy of 40 Watt
For decades, the 40 Watt Club has been a cornerstone of Athens, Georgia’s music scene. But keeping a legendary venue running takes more than packed shows. In this story, we meet Jim Wilson, the man behind the curtain, who shares what it takes to preserve the club’s legacy while adapting…
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Behind-the-Scenes with Grady Night Shift at Backlight Film Festival
Students in Entertainment Reporting this semester used visual storytelling skills to report on the Backlight Student Film Festival, documenting the event through photography, videography and social media. In partnership with the festival, students accessed finalist screeners to view and prepare for a variety of reporting. Their work included two broadcasts…
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