A new center for music education and performance named for the late soul great Otis Redding is now open.
The Redding Foundation, run by the family of the singer who electrified audiences around the world before dying at age 26 in 1967, has for years taught young musicians and songwriters in their summer and afterschool programs. But those programs had no building of their own.
That changed once the Redding family and other leaders cut the ribbon at the 15,000-square-foot Otis Redding Center for the Arts in the heart of downtown Macon.
“The place where the NuWay was,” Otis Redding’s grandson Justin Andrews said during his remarks, harking back to the famous hotdog restaurant which burned at the site years ago and was, for years, just a big hole.
“Now to see it filled with Maconites and supporters here for this incredible space for the youth in our area is utterly incredible.”
Andrews spoke from the stage of the new amphitheater at the center, named for his grandmother and Otis Redding’s widow: Zelma Redding.
“You know Dad was amazing in his own right, but you know how he got amazing?” asked Karla Redding-Andrews of her mother.
“A strong woman,” she said.
Zelma Redding raised four children after Otis Redding died.
Physically, the Redding Center is a modernist standout among the historic architecture surrounding it on Macon’s Cotton Avenue. Inside are Wonka-esque spaces for kids to make music, such as a classroom with a drummer’s practice pad and rainbow hued sticks at every desk, or the lounge with what looks like an arcade game but is in fact a beatmaking machine.
“This is not just a building for kids; this is not just a building for the Reddings,” Justin Andrews said. “This right here is a community project.”
On the amphitheater stage, after the ribbon-cutting, Zelma Redding was surrounded by well-wishers and, she said, feeling blessed.
“Oh, it means so much to me,” she said. “I fulfilled the dream of my late husband.”
The capstone to the center and the amphitheater space is yet to come. A bronze statue of Otis Redding, which had once been on Macon’s Ocmulgee Riverfront, will be placed at the intersection of Cotton Avenue and Cherry Street, surrounded by flowing water.
“Like he’s sitting on the dock of the bay,” said Redding’s daughter, Karla Redding-Andrews. “So we’re going to bring him home.”
