A CultureBuddy in Austin

CultureBuddy moments happen in the strangest places. I have been at a conference in Austin this week and had several moments that made me feel like the world is sending me CB- messages. My favorite one of the week was when Larry Gatlin- yes, the Country Western singer- was presented with an award at the conference. He has been instrumental in starting a community college program called the Larry Gatlin School of Entertainment Technology at Guilford CC in NC. He helped raise over $9 million to build a state of the art building and students are flocking to the school. He is a very entertaining speaker and I was entranced when he spoke about his next project which is to get college students to work in collaboration to put together a show that he can try to take to Broadway. He spoke of shows that have successfully gone from colleges to Broadway and cited some of the CB's favorites like In The Heights, Avenue Q, and Putnam County Spelling Bee. He is working on a way that the licensing of a show produced by students can become a revenue generator for the community college. I was wowed by his vision and so impressed by his commitment to help students. A CB SHOUT OUT TO LARRY!!