ony Long – Macon businessman, historic restoration
expert and property developer, lover of the arts
– balks at being called a hero. Other Maconites
disagree. Eric O'Dell says that he was integral to
what became known as the Contemporary Arts Exchange when
Long gave artists, photographers, and creators studio space
for next to nothing in a building he owned downtown. Alice
Sheridan, artistic director of Nutcracker of Central Georgia,
considers all he's done for the yearly ballet and to build the
brand-new Jean Evans Weaver Center for Dance. Frank Wood
at the Grand Opera House attests that Long's decades of
involvement in the arts includes helping save The Grand from a
wrecking ball and painting its very halls.
The 1905 theater is on the long list of preservation projects Long
has been involved with individually and via the multi-generational
A.T. Long & Son Painting Contractors, including The Douglass
Theatre, The Capitol Theatre, Macon City Auditorium, St.
Joseph Catholic Church, Temple Beth Israel, The Hay House, and
countless other buildings across Georgia.
Above all, Long is a Macon-lover whose fingerprints, in one way
or another, can be seen on much of what we look around and see,
hear, experience, and enjoy today.
HEROES AMONG US
Tony Long
BY MICHAEL W. PANNELL | PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT ODOM
T
