Last fall the Georgia Museum of Art welcomed James Huggins to the staff as an event technology specialist. From setting up lights and capturing recordings to running sound and operating microphones, Huggins tailors the museum’s M. Smith Griffith Auditorium to fit a variety of different events. He manages all elements necessary for presenting lectures, film screenings, livestreams, live Zooms, performances and other events held in the auditorium.
Huggins’ role requires requires a blend of planning and adaptability to handle unforeseen last-minute changes or issues that can arise during all manner of live events. Some presentations require lights, recording and a screen, while others work fine with just sound. Huggins said, “Sometimes there’s five speakers, sometimes there’s one, sometimes there’s video elements, sometimes it’s just PowerPoint, sometimes it’s a livestream, which is different than a Zoom. … And so it’s not like a consistent thing where here’s what we do. … It’s kind of tailor-made for each event.”
Huggins’ expertise enables presenters — including university classes, student groups and community organizations — to enhance their events with the auditorium’s technical resources. The auditorium was upgraded last spring and now boasts new equipment including pan-tilt-zoom cameras, a mini-switcher and beamforming microphones.
Another key part of Huggins’ job is working with program organizers to help realize their vision. His experience as a musician allows him to better understand the needs of a diverse range of presenters and performers and gives him a passion for bringing their events to life.
“I’m used to being up here, but then when someone else has a program they want to put together, I’m really sympathetic about it, and I’m the one helping them put it together, you know,” said Huggins.
Huggins previously worked as an on-call AV operator for the museum since 2021, and has been a guest DJ for museum events. In addition, he’s worked as the assistant technical director at the historic Morton Theatre in downtown Athens and honed his AV skills by managing sound, lights and staging for his band.
Outside of work, Huggins enjoys spending time with his son and recording music in his home studio. He continues to perform live, using his knowledge of a variety of instruments: drums, keyboard, bass and vocals.
As the event technology specialist, Huggins aims to enhance the quality of the museum’s recordings and to establish a more refined archive of talks and performances. As Huggins put it, “Instead of there just being an artist come in and talk to 20 students, it’s now evolving [to] where people can talk to 2,000 people instead of just who’s in the room.” This involves high-definition recordings that are produced from a multicamera view rather than just transcribed or recorded from one camera.
Huggins’ experience and passion for performance have helped expand the reach of the auditorium, enabling various performers and presenters, student groups and community organizations to make use of the space.
Authored by:
Jisu Stanfield
