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ABOUT
With the help and encouragement of the University of Georgia's Leighton Ballew, the Georgia Theatre Conference was established in 1964. Don Kordecki of Cartersville served as the first president of the organization. In the spring of 1965, GTC held it's first annual convention, and continued to hold a spring convention through 1981 when, under the leadership of then-President Bolton Lunceford we hosted a "two-convention" year, with a spring convention in Atlanta, and a fall convention in Savannah. Since that time, the annual convention of the Georgia Theatre Conference has been held in October or November.
The Georgia Theatre Conference Archive at Valdosta State University’s Odum Library was established in May of 2007 thanks to the tireless efforts of then-GTC Executive Director Vicki Pennington, and a grant from the Georgia Humanities Council. The grand opening celebration, “Telling Our Stories: Archiving, Describing and Creating Theatre in Georgia,” was held at the library May 11-12. Presentation topics included Theatre for people with disabilities, military life, plantation life, Asian Wedding Traditions and more. The introduction to the archives and a ribbon cutting ceremony were held at 1 p.m. Saturday. Past GTC presidentswere present in honor of the ceremony.
The Georgia Theatre Conference began informally in 1965 and was granted non-profit status in 1971. It seeks to encourage and coordinate a close relationship among the community, educational and professional theatres in Georgia; maintain quality in both live theatre and theatre education. Funded in part by a grant from the Georgia Humanities Council, the GTC collection features photographs, programs, newsletters, membership information, financial statements and much more. All artifacts represent the extensive history of the GTC. The collection is on permanent loan to VSU Archives and Special Collections, which has created an online finding aid at the Valdosta State University Library.
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