For many years, Boone has been well known for its music scene. From bluegrass legend Doc Watson to High-Country-formed Rainbow Kitten Surprise, music has always been an important staple for the town. With this comes the absolute cruciality of a versatile venue for all kinds of entertainment.
In 2020, App State Athletics invited Luke Combs to perform at Holmes Convocation Center, beginning a new entertainment-focused chapter for the department. The Convocation Center has also been used for years as a place for academic events such as career fairs, commencements and art showcases. This venue has played a role in the merging of the Athletics Department and the Department of Art.
Doug Gillin is the director of athletics at App State and emphasized the department’s commitment to prioritizing collaboration across the university.
“We want to collaborate with anybody and everybody whenever it makes sense,” Gillin said. “Any partnerships that we can work together on, we want to, you know, do a lot of different things with a lot of different departments.”
According to Gillin, one of the missions of the department is to have more events on campus catering to both students and locals. The department wants to foster “vibrant events on campus that our students can engage in,” Gillin said.
Gillin encouraged the utilization of facilities that wouldn’t typically be in use in order to provide both sports and entertainment to the community and student population.
While the department has been introducing bigger artists to the venue over the last few years, including the recent Young the Giant concert, Gillin said the team is flexible with accommodating academic-centered events.
“There’s career fairs; there’s the fashion show; there’s other events in the Holmes Center that are academic-focused. We have to work around those because we have athletics and we have academics in the Holmes Center first and foremost,” Gillin said.
The Department of Applied Design put on the 2026 Apparel Design and Merchandising Showcase on April 25 under the supervision of Anthony Wilson, the ADM Showcase faculty director. This annual event has been held in the Convocation Center for a couple of years, giving the program a large space to allow approximately 20 to 25 students to showcase their work from the semester.
Claire Kusse, a senior apparel design and merchandising major, participated in this year’s show after being a part of last year’s pre-show. The show consists of three looks from each student designer, complete with live music and judges scoring the looks. It is a culmination of everything the seniors have been working toward during their four years at App State.
“If we didn’t have the show, we wouldn’t be showing anybody our looks, and I think it is important for our classmates to see it and our families and everybody else that ends up going,” Kusse said.
After having a conversation with Wilson about the showcase, Kusse noted the impact of it being held in the Convocation Center.
“He was the one that made the jump from a smaller venue elsewhere, not on campus, to bringing it to being on campus,” Kusse said.
She shared Wilson’s experience as a student who didn’t have the opportunity to participate in the kind of showcase they’re able to put on now.
The Convocation Center has offered more space to aid the show’s production, as well as additional seats for audience members, contributing more exposure to what some see as otherwise underappreciated departments, such as the arts.
“It’s really great to see it ‘cause we are still a small department; like, there’s not that many of us, and it’s nice to see more faces and more people into the same kind of thing I’m into,” Kusse said.
When it comes to the athletics side of things, Gillin highlighted the financial benefits.
“We want our facilities, if they’re not being used, then to use them to grow revenue,” Gillin said.
Events will continue to take place at the Convocation Center this upcoming summer. On June 18, the eve of Boonerang Music and Arts Festival, headliner Niko Moon will take to the stage with support from local musicians Adam Church and Midlife Trip.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source theappalachianonline.com ’
