The welcome gallery orients guests to the Center with a map of the American South, What’s Happening in the Area, and a 13 minute film. The film provides a conceptual framework for the Center by illustrating how the American South, its music and its people—most especially Earl Scruggs—have continually reinvented and transformed themselves. It introduces the South as a dynamic source of music and stories, and provides a historical and cultural overview of the foothills region and a brief primer about native son Earl Scruggs’ place in history.