Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1536125
34 maconmagazine.com | June/July 2025 K i m b e r l y K e l s e y E p p s new space where we can house all of this for the kids." And that's what we did. As a small team of probably four or five people, we set out to get this going. It's been a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but here we are. How would you describe the center's mission? For the center, it's really, for us, about creating a space where there's a community where kids learn creativity, they learn collaboration, they learn competence. Not just in music, but just in life. Music is the vehicle, music and arts H E R O E S A M O N G U S K As t h e C e n te r D i r e c to r fo r t h e b ra n d - n e w O t i s R e d d i n g C e n te r fo r t h e A r t s , s h e 's g i v i n g t h e n ex t g e n e ra t i o n a v o i c e by p r e s e r v i n g a p r i c e l e s s l e g a cy. INTERVIEW BY HALEIGH DEARDEN | PHOTO BY MATT ODOM We started really kind of getting into the thick of this in 2021. The [Otis Redding] Foundation had been working out of a smaller space up at 339 Cotton Avenue, sharing a space with the museum. It became very apparent that as we were growing, we did not have the space. Thank God for Karla [Redding-Andrews] and Justin [Andrews], but there would be times where I'm like, "I need your office to do a guitar lesson. Can you go do your work somewhere else?" I really wanted to grow our programs and add additional programs. Zelma [Redding] kind of said, "We're going to build this center. We're going to build a imberly Kelsey Epps is a multi- pronged threat who describes her new role at the Otis Redding Center for the Arts (ORCA) as overseeing "everything that happens in this building that is child-facing, basically." That means her leadership touches programs, workshops, and camps for kids from toddlers to teens. But how did she find her vibrant career coaching others? MM asked Epps about her journey to the stage – and what the next act holds for her now that ORCA has opened its doors. Describe the journey to making ORCA a reality.