1/22: SDS Graduate To Curate Local Cultural Event

Posted January 22, 2007

Cate Brandt graduated from SDS in 1996. Last summer she returned to Spartanburg after several years living elsewhere and, together with her husband Aaron, has organized a unique cultural event at Hub-Bub’s The Showroom this Saturday. Here, in her own words, is what Cate has been up to since her time at SDS.

“I had a wonderful 13 years at SDS. I was always encouraged to speak out, ask questions and challenge myself by both my teachers and my peers. Two major influences on my development as a student at the Day School were Nancy Corbin and Mike Johnson. Mrs. Corbin helped me channel my artistic inclinations into a very interesting and satisfying senior AP Art thesis, as well as putting up with me on a wonderful trip to Washington DC and New York to see amazing museums. Mr. Johnson challenged me to question and analyze everything in my AP Philosophy class.

I went on to major in Studio Art at Wellesley College because of my experiences at the Day School in Mrs. Corbin's classes.

When I left Spartanburg for college, I thought I would never return to live here. I received my masters in city planning and urban design at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 2005, still thinking I would never be living in or near Spartanburg.

However, while glancing through an urban planning jobs section of a favorite website, I noticed a job available working for the city of Spartanburg. I sent a resume in, thinking 'why not?'.

This is a very exciting and dynamic time in the history of our city, and I feel very lucky to be a part of making Spartanburg a better place to live, work and play.

The existence of Hub-Bub has made my transition into life here much easier. Being a former art student and big city resident, the vitality and diversity of the people and events at Hub-Bub creates a unique forum for experiences and ideas. My husband, Aaron, and I are hosting an event at Hub-Bub this Saturday, the 27^th, called Talk20 Spartanburg. It is an event that we were involved with in graduate school, and Hub-Bub seemed to be the perfect place to host the event.

We will have 11 people present 20 slides each, speaking for 20 seconds per slide, about a topic of their choice. The intent of the event is to allow the dissemination of different perspectives to an audience in a finite period of time. We hope to continue Talk20 as perhaps a quarterly event at Hub-Bub - we will see how the inaugural one goes!

I encourage SDS students and teachers to attend Talk20 - you will get a window into the minds of 11 creative members of the Spartanburg community, and perhaps get inspired to present something yourself someday!"

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