Arts News

Since 2021, the BMW Mean Machine has been a staple of game days in Athens. This year, students in the Layton Design Studio at Lamar Dodd School of Art were tasked with designing the vehicle, which will be showcased throughout Athens and at UGA home football games during the 2026 season.

UGA Presents welcomes Tony Award-winning Broadway star Kelli O’Hara to Hodgson Concert Hall on Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m. One of Broadway’s most celebrated leading ladies, O’Hara brings her luminous voice and distinctive artistry to an evening of Great American Songbook classics and Broadway favorites.

A National Endowment for the Humanities grant supports a three-year project at the University of Georgia entitled “Many Eyes on the Road to Revolution in Colonial Georgia,” which focuses on the state’s early history from 1732 to 1798.

Thanks to a crowd-funded University of Georgia Libraries project to restore the 1986 documentary “Athens, GA: Inside/Out,” the film about Athens’ music scene during the heyday of bands like R.E.M. and The B-52s will appear more vibrant at two free community screenings on Thursday, Sept. 24 at Ciné. 

The eight-month Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ 2026-2027 fine and performing arts season, which brings together the creative talents of faculty and students representing the Lamar Dodd School of Art, Hugh Hodgson School of Music, department of dance and department of theatre and film, offers dozens of free exhibitions, lectures and concerts.

The Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and the UGA Performing Arts Center will welcome the world-renowned Beninese musician Angélique Kidjo to UGA on Sept. 8-10 as the Willson Center’s annual Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding. Kidjo’s residency will culminate in a UGA Presents performance at the Performing Arts Center on September 10.

Behind-the-scenes stories of Hollywood celebrities will be on display at the UGA Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries through an exhibition of the life and work of photographer Nancy Ellison. In the display, Ellison’s stories come to life through her portraits and scenes from movie sets featuring legendary actors including Harrison Ford.

Margaret Morrison was the first artist featured in the UGA Performing Arts Center’s Lobby Gallery in 2024. She returns with “Antiques,” a selection of four colorful, outsized canvases depicting displays from Italian antique markets. The exhibition runs through early January with an opening reception at 5 p.m. on Aug. 27.

The Georgia Museum of Art will present “Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone” this fall from Aug. 8 to Jan. 3, 2027. The first major retrospective exhibition of the work of the acclaimed 19th-century Black and Indigenous sculptor presents approximately 30 sculptures by Lewis from public and private collections across the United States and abroad.

Season 31 opens a door with an invitation to discover, to connect, and to experience the unique joy that comes from gathering together. From classical superstars to bluegrass legends and Broadway vocalists to jazz innovators, we’re shining a spotlight on the world’s greatest musicians, dancers, and theatre-makers.