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From Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, December 4, 1997

Last modified at 11:05 p.m. on Wednesday, December 3, 1997

City to hire architect for Holly exhibit

By MIKE W. THOMAS
Avalanche-Journal

The city plans to hire an architect to design the Buddy Holly exhibit at the Depot building later this month.

Connie Gibbons, director of the city's cultural arts department, said she hopes to present City Council members with an architect choice at their Dec. 18 meeting. It would likely be four to six months after that before they would begin taking bids for a contractor to do the renovation work on the building, she added.

"It would be wonderful if we could have everything done in time to open for the next Buddy Holly festival," she said. "But realistically, it will probably be March 1999 before everything is finished. We need to take the time to do it right and do it well."

The renovation project will have a $1.5 million construction budget, Gibbons said. But that should include the electronic and audio/visual elements that will be used in the presentation of the Buddy Holly memorabilia.

"A big part of the exhibit will be interactive," Gibbons said. "People will be able to listen to music that influenced him, and then hear his influences on other music."

The city is trying to track down existing video and film footage of Holly to add to the exhibit, she said. There will also be historical information about Lubbock from the 1930s and '40s.

"We will try to put in context the things that shaped him as an artist and songwriter," she said.