Erin Spainhour Named AAC Executive Director
Erin Spainhour, who was recently named the executive director of the Anderson Arts Center (AAC), was destined for a career in the arts. Her father, a violinist, helped found GAMAC (The Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium), and her mom was an art teacher. Growing up, Spainhour played viola, sang in the GAMAC youth chorus, and acted in local theater. After high school, she attended Lander University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in visual arts.
Then she moved to Seattle and got a job at a stationery store, which led to a stint designing greeting cards.
After three years, though, she and her husband moved back home. She spent a month as a contract designer for the AAC’s Fish out of Water 2 project before landing a job at Bernhardt House of Violins in Greenville. She spent 15 years there, with her responsibilities evolving from music librarian and sales associate to graphic designer to teacher representative. Among her many duties, she traveled to schools to deliver instruments, handled teachers’ bids, and oversaw school rentals. “Kids get so excited when they get their first rental or buy their first instrument,” she said. “It’s nice to see music education still being taught.”
During this time, she taught afterschool art classes and summer art camp at AAC, as well as contributing freelance design. She also freelanced at City Seed at the Station doing design work and social media.
In August 2022, she came to work part time at AAC to do marketing. A year later, that turned into a full-time position which included not only marketing but also graphic design, membership, and “whatever else needed to happen,” she said. She became the interim director in February 2024 and was named the permanent director in September last year.
Among her plans is to expand AAC’s involvement in public art with both the city and the county. Another idea is to expand the atrium gallery shows from six weeks to three months or longer. “This will be longer exposure for artists,” she said. Artists will be chosen from those who’ve filled out exhibit proposals, which are available at https://andersonarts.org/exhibitions/exhibition-proposals/.
There will also be “some extra fun things” at the upcoming juried show, the AAC’s fiftieth one. In October, there will be a three-day watermedia workshop, along with other adult classes and workshops.
She is also seeking more volunteers. If you’d like to be added to the volunteer list, call or email Britton Rodgers, the events director, at brittonr@andersonarts.org.
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