What if you had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to showcase your artistic talents under the bright stage lights of the historic Holly Theatre? That’s precisely the type of golden opportunity envisioned by the theater’s Fundraising Committee, as they solicit auditions for their first-ever community talent competition: Dahlonega’s Got Talent.
The all-ages competition is open to everyone, whether you live in Lumpkin County or not. However, contestants must submit a family-friendly, one-minute audition video no later than August 10 in order to be considered.
A selection committee will review all qualifying submissions and will choose 15 finalists to advance to the first round of online voting.
Finalists will be required to submit a longer, five minute video by August 29. Then, from September 1 through October 1, the public will be able to view those videos and purchase votes for their favorite acts.
These votes will help winnow the field down to the top five performers, all of whom will advance to the Dahonega’s Got Talent competition, a ticketed fundraising event to be held at the Holly on October 24.
Results from a second round of online voting will be revealed the night of the show, and will help a panel of five local judges determine an overall winner.
In addition to earning the coveted title of inaugural Dahlonega’s Got Talent Champion, the performer will also receive a special performance opportunity during the historic Holly Theatre’s 2027 season, giving them another chance to showcase their talent with considerable advance promotion.
“Sometimes you have to find something new to engage with new people, and it’s going to be a really fun way to do that,” Holly Theatre Executive Director Sarah Christopher predicted during a recent interview with The Nugget.
SUPPORTING ARTISTS
To the best of Christopher’s knowledge, The Holly has never hosted a talent competition of this magnitude until now.
She said slightly different variations on the idea had been floated in the past, including hosting a local awards show similar to the Tony Awards, which recognizes excellence in Broadway theater.
“The issue is,” said Christopher, “we’ve also had a lot of fantastic local talent play on our stages here as far as bands go. We don’t have a lot of days available in our concert series, and we love so many of the people that have sent in their stuff. You know, there’s just so much talent here, and saying no starts to feel really, really bad.”
But don’t be confused: The October contest will be more than just a Battle of the Bands, or even a Battle of the Bards.
“It’s all artists of all types: comedians, jugglers, singers, dancers,” Christopher said. “Who do we want to talk about? Who do we want to be talked about?”
Despite the name, you don’t need to be from Dahlonega to enter the competition.
“We’re a mixture of locals and transplants, so anywhere in Georgia’s really open,” she said.
The judges’ panel for the October show will include notable locals Fiona Bagley, Mayor Sam Norton, Sam McDuffie and Adam Jarrard.
CHARITABLE COMPETITION
In addition to helping up-and-coming artists get some local exposure, Dahlonega’s Got Talent has the added benefit of generating funds for the theater’s various educational initiatives, including children’s summer camp.
“The goal of this, obviously, is to raise money for The Holly, but most importantly to have The Holly help a local artist get some foothold in the town. We’ve got the ability to put out posters, put them on our website, put them up on the marquee and give them that start in a way that helps them do it with their community behind them,” she said.
Christopher is also excited about the wide-open nature of the competition. Even a traditionally less performative art, like painting, could qualify you for the ultimate prize, some sort of gig at the Holly during the 2027 season, although exactly what that looks like may vary based on the winner.
She gave the example of a local painter who she encouraged to enter the contest.
“I hope she does, because I’ve seen her work around town, and I think she’s fantastic. That submission obviously would be a little bit different on the performance night, and we would have to … work that into the show. But easily their pieces could be displayed in the lobby upon entry. Our way of being able to set them up next year instead of a gig would be displaying their art in the hallway upstairs, or including them in the poster design if it’s a graphic designer,” Christopher said.
No matter what your talent is, she reminded all potential entrants that their introductory videos should present “clean material that would work on the stage in front of everybody.”
“This town isn’t Las Vegas,” she noted. “If you couldn’t do it in Hancock Park on a Friday night, you probably shouldn’t be doing it in the Holly Theatre.”
When asked if she had any tips for creating a video submission that will stand out among the crowd, Christopher advised entrants not to waste a lot of valuable time on lengthy introductions.
“I would maybe find a nonverbal way to get us to understand what you’re doing,” she recommended.
And for those who might be nervous about putting their hidden talent in front of the public for the first time, Christopher had a quick reply.
“I mean this is the Holly—How many people do you think are in our show who have never been on a stage before? This is the place to do it. This is what this theater is for. It’s for you to try those things. It’s for you to come out of your comfort zone,” she said.
ANNUAL OPPORTUNITY
Christopher hopes that Dahlonega’s Got Talent will become a new annual fundraising tradition for The Holly, as well as a new avenue to connect artists with the public.
“It sounds corny, but one of the things I loved when I moved to this town was everybody was telling me about all these great artists that I had to go see, and all these different ways in town I could go see them. They were talking about Radford [Windham’s] band and they were talking about Kurt Thomas, and they were talking to me about Amy [Ray]. We have all these great local legends, but they started somewhere. And community was a little bit easier to dive into back in the day. We’ve got to have a way to get everybody to come back together,” she said.
Christopher envisions a fundraiser that has the potential to benefit any artist, no matter their preferred medium.
“I’ve never worked at a place that had such an open mind about what is art and what is good,” she said of The Holly. “If you’re enjoying what you’re doing, we’re probably going to enjoy watching you do it.”
For a link to the Dahlonega’s Got Talent audition form or additional information, visit https://hollytheater.com/auditions/dahlonegas-got-talent/. The deadline for one-minute audition videos has been extended from August 1 to August 10.