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Poetter Hall was purchased by the SCAD founders in March 1979. Classes began in September of that year.  
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Trivial Pursuits

Trivial Pursuits
 
‘Underground’ site spotlights local scene

Jon Kolko
Charlie Ribbens 
Industrial design professor Jon Kolko is the man behind the Savannah Underground Web site.

By Monique Bos
Published: Friday, September 9, 2005

When Savannah College of Art and Design industrial design professor Jon Kolko and his wife moved to Savannah three and a half years ago from Austin, Texas, one of the first things he did was look for information about local bands and concerts.

“Austin has the best live music scene,” he said. He hoped to find a similar scene in Savannah and was surprised to discover little information online. So his wife suggested that Kolko, who had worked in several high-tech jobs in Austin, start a Web site to provide information on the local entertainment scene.

The result is Savannah Underground, www.savannahunderground.com, a user-friendly community that provides information about local concerts, films, art exhibitions, performances, lectures and other events.

“I started the site and was surprised by how much was going on that nobody knew about,” he said. “If you think about what it takes to get a vibrant music scene, we have all the ingredients. We have 30,000 students and a ton of money in Savannah.”

He said one factor that might prevent a scene developing is the high cost of rent downtown. “High rents make small clubs not lucrative,” he explained.

The site assists bands and small venues by providing a forum in which they can publicize events for free. Kolko seems a bit surprised at how popular Savannah Underground has become.

“[From] this personal thing that I was just doing for fun, it’s grown into this thing that’s getting half a million hits per month,” he said. The site has 1,100 registered users, about 100 of whom regularly post to the message boards. During August, Savannah Underground received 16,000 hits per day from 4,000 unique users.

One reason for the site’s popularity is that bands, performers and venues can post information themselves, using an online form. Kolko edits the site about once a week and adds content as he has time, he said.

In addition, important players from the local music milieu frequent Savannah Underground. Jim Reed, Connect Savannah music editor; John Stoehr, Savannah Morning News music editor; and local studio owners, such as Kevin Rose of Elevated Basement, are active users and have brought their own online followings to the site.

“You get some really ferocious debate going on,” Kolko said.

He said many Savannah College of Art and Design students also are active participants.

“You can definitely see the influence SCAD has had on this town,” he said. “When SCAD is out, nothing’s going on. Some of our students are in bands. SCAD students are involved in promoting, know band members, and [often] are the targeted audience.”

In addition, school-sponsored events, such as the Oct. 8 Ben Folds concert at Trustees Theater, provide a boost to the local scene. “I like very much what SCAD is doing in this respect,” Kolko said. “Trustees is a perfect venue for that upper-size draw.”

While Kolko, who earned his master’s degree in human-computer interaction, runs the site independently of his work at SCAD, the principles he utilizes in making Savannah Underground accessible also inform his instruction. Many of the classes he teaches focus on interaction design.

“The product changes from being a piece of software to hardware, but the process is the same,” he said. “Personally I find the development of interaction stuff … intellectually challenging, and I like that.”

He added, “I’ve learned more teaching than I ever did ‘learning.’”

Kolko also is an active member of the SCAD student media council, which consists of student, faculty and staff members who oversee the Student Media Center and its personnel.

“His expertise and guidance have been particularly valuable to the staff of The Hive, SCAD’s student-run Internet community,” said Student Media Director John Bennett.

Working on Savannah Underground “keeps me up to date on the technical side of things,” Kolko said. “It runs itself at a methodical, thumping-along pace. For me, it’s been a way to get to know people. Digitally, [Savannah is] a small town.”

And, despite Austin’s music scene, Kolko prefers Savannah.

“Savannah is a very liberal area within a larger conservative area. There’s a ton of youth and the youth vibe,” he said. “In many respects, Savannah could be the next Austin or Portland or Madison — up and coming, hip cities.”

Trivial Pursuits spotlights a SCAD student, employee or graduate and his or her hobby. To suggest a person to profile, e-mail Monique Bos at mbos@scad.edu.