On the night of April 2, 1981, a special musical performance took place at Furman University. Everyone involved had ties to Greenville: the librettist, Keller Cushing Freeman, the musical composer, Sally Wyche Coenen, and the singers. The event was the premiere performance of an original song cycle called The Death of Arthur: a Requiem for Six Voices. The singers represented important characters in the life of the legendary king of the Round Table.

The Death of Arthur was the first public appearance of Emrys, but it had its real beginning when two friends dreamed, planned, and worked to make some ambitious ideas come to fruition. Who better to tell about this than one of the co-founders, Keller Cushing Freeman:

     “It wasn’t quite the first act of Puccini’s La Boheme, where a cluster of young artists and poets shared their dreams and a bottle of vin ordinaire in a Paris garret. But it was close. Our setting was a basement apartment on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. Serving up the cabernet was Dan Coenen, a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Blackmun. Tossing the salad was Dan’s wife, Sally Wyche Coenen, a native of Greenville, S.C., currently taking photography courses and continuing her study of piano with Spencer Fellows. Sally also harbored ambitions as a composer, although 1980 was not a year when the world clamored for the music of emerging young composers—male or female. To date Sally had not had even the nibble of a commission.

     “I was the fortunate dinner guest that icy winter evening, warmed by more than 20 years of friendship with Sally and the Wyche family. Like Sally, I, too, had a closet stuffed with dreams. Although teaching philosophy was my day job, I wrote poetry on the sly. Recently I’d completed a series of poems based on the legends of King Arthur. The material seemed made for music, so I labeled the poems lyrics and set off to find a composer to collaborate on a song cycle. Sally was my first choice.

     “That evening over melting bowls of ice cream we reflected on the obstacles confronting writers, composers, and artists who were in sore need of a place to present their work, an audience to receive the work, and a patron to subsidize the projects. Without realizing it, we had begun to articulate the mission statement for the organization that was to become The Emrys Foundation—to promote excellence in the arts, especially literary, artistic, and musical works of women and minorities.

     “Nearly a year later we felt ready to present our first collaboration, a song cycle for piano (later scored for chamber orchestra), narrator and six voices.

     “To choose a name for our new partnership we turned to Welsh lore that had inspired our first collaboration. Learning that King Arthur’s sorcerer, Merlin, was actually named Emrys, we agreed that this rather mysterious word had a special ring to it. When we discovered that Emrys was translated

Child of Light, we felt certain that this was a name of good omen.”

By 1982, Keller and Sally had a new song cycle ready called Feast and

Famine: Songs of Women in Love. The cycle of twenty-four poems and songs for soprano voice, narrator, and piano chronicled the delight and despair that colored the lives of women in love, moving from the spring of first love through the sensuous awakening of summer, to autumnal periods of  loss and regret that culminate in a winter of reflection. In the end, the love relationships are transformed into the more lasting dimension of art.

Feast and Famine went on to a performance at the Greenville Arts Festival that year and to other venues throughout the state, including a presentation at Charleston’s Piccolo Spoleto. 

At the same time, a partnership was developing that included other poets who read their work. In this group were Jan Bailey, Sue Lile Inman, and Cynthia Jaskwhich. Soon Marian Blackwell joined the group to form the nucleus of a monthly poetry workshop. From this workshop came not only a substantial number of publications by the members, innumerable performances, three careers in teaching poetry and creative writing, but also the seeds of what has become The Emrys Press, to date the publishers of eight volumes of poetry and three poetry chapbooks, along with several collections of essays and other prose works.

These auspicious beginnings have also snowballed into the presentation and offering of a variety of creative endeavors and collaborations.

For example, Emrys recognized early on that there were several areas where it could provide significant service to writers: offering workshops to advance writing skills, presenting symposia where writers could meet writers who had already achieved a measure of success in their careers, and granting scholarships and fellowships for advanced study. Raising money for an education endowment was a task that took years, but success was sweet when it finally came in 1999.

Emrys never lost sight of the fact that artists needed audiences and places to share the fruits of their creativity, and hardworking boards throughout the years offered opportunities for readings, art exhibits, and performances.  Starting with the Emrys Journal in 1984, Emrys provided in its publications a vital venue for writers. The journal is well-known in the region for its staple of fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction. Unpublished manuscripts from round the world are submitted to this annual book.

A variety of workshops have been offered in fiction, poetry—even photography— from well-known authors such as Natalie Goldberg, Ann Hood, and Ron Rash.

In 2006 Emrys sanctioned the start-up of an exciting and ambitious program called the Writing Room that offers a full program of instruction in poetry, fiction, nonfiction and play-writing. With a qualified faculty coordinated by Mindy Friddle and assisted by Ashley Warlick, both successful authors, local students have an opportunity to progress rapidly in their chosen disciplines.

Symposia and lectures have played a prominent role in the life of Emrys as well. The 1980s saw a literature symposium titled “The Woman as Writer and Reader,” which featured widely acclaimed writers Gloria Naylor, Ellen Gilchrist, Josephine Humphreys, and Louise Shivers. A symposium in the 1990s bore the name “Women, Music, and Creativity.” In 2003, a special symposium—“Against Ourselves”—dealt with the disturbing reality of bodily mutilation, past and present, especially that involving women and children.

In 2006 Emrys co-sponsored a conference with The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators that brought outstanding editors and authors to Greenville. The conference provided valuable information for professional writers and illustrators, and encouraged educators to use creative writing across the curriculum. The event drew participants from a wide area and proved to be so popular it was offered the following year.

Emrys knew from its beginning that providing financial aid for education to creative women would be an important part of its mission. It was evident that Emrys scholarships, although not large, could pay for workshops, conferences, or transportation to a research site. As years passed and guidelines for scholarships were fine-tuned, it was decided that older women most needed support. Changing life situations often made it necessary for older women to change career paths, while some women simply came to a new place in their lives, discovering that fulfillment demanded the pursuit of a more creative route.

Emrys named its first scholarship—which debuted in 1999—for Alice Conger Patterson, its fifth board president. Scholarship winners were always announced at the Emrys annual meeting each spring. During the years Emrys was developing and awarding the Alice Conger Patterson Scholarship, it also proceeded with plans to award a fellowship for higher education. Known as the Keller Cushing Freeman Fellowship, in honor of  Emrys’ founding mother, application was open to North and South Carolina women who were pursuing a post-graduate degree. The fellowship was inaugurated in 2003.

Although scholarships and fellowships proved to be a systematic and equitable way for Emrys to assist artists, individual requests for special projects also have received support as they arise.

Another signature activity is the Reading Room, which started in 1990, as a way to recognize well-known regional authors. Two authors appear on a monthly basis (except during the summer) and read their works and answer questions from the audience. In 2006 the Reading Room began meeting at The Handlebar, a popular Greenville entertainment establishment.

One especially rewarding and enjoyable feature of the Reading Room was its addition of a program for young writers from the Fine Arts Center and the Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities.  On a Monday evening each spring students read their own work to an audience of proud parents, Emrys members, and friends.

Many Emrys activities seem to be in a category of their own—other performances. Promoting and enjoying performances of talented Emrys members and other community artists have been a large part of what Emrys is about.  The following events are some outstanding examples.

In 1988 when Emrys celebrated its fifth anniversary with a comprehensive women’s arts festival, a committee approached the Warehouse Theatre about a drama component. The result was the presentation of Intimate Strangers, two short plays written by women. The production was staffed entirely by women.

Under the direction of Jennie Wakefield, Emrys launched a new dance initiative called “Dance in Public Places” in 2002. In 2006 Emrys sponsored a series of well-attended Sunday concerts in McPherson Park with Don Shabkie as the featured musician. Early in 2007 the loft apartment above Lyn Strong’s gallery in downtown Greenville provided a unique setting for a salon night starring Teri Parker Lewis, theatre instructor at the Fine Arts Center. The commissioned piece featured the spoken word, music and dance, creating an unusual event that showcased both the performance and the surroundings.

Emrys had the pleasure of being involved with another premiere production in February of 2007. Center Stage presented a play, Quilting the Sun, by Grace Cavalieri. The plot was based on the true story of Georgia slaves and a unique quilt that now hangs at the Smithsonian.

Emrys’ annual meetings are an important way to keep the membership informed about the progress of its mission, to handle the official business of the organization, and simply to give members a chance to convene for celebration, inspiration, and renewal of friendships. Like many other activities, the annual meetings took place in various venues, but every five years it finds a home at the Greenville County Museum of Art for an extra-special anniversary celebration.

That extra-ordinary event just took place this spring as Emrys marked its twenty-fifth anniversary with original dance, commissioned music, and the opening of an art exhibit.

As you can no doubt tell, much of Emrys’ history can be told in the account of its collaborations. In its twenty-five year history, Emrys has never owned brick and mortar real estate. That is not to say, however, that it has been homeless. Emrys resides in many venues in the City of Greenville—in its museum, its theatres, offices, businesses, its library, warehouses, stages, schools, churches, restaurants, on its streets and in its parks. Emrys believed that partnering with others in the community with common aims and goals was the way that a small but dynamic group could best use its resources.

One especially fruitful one is part of the Emrys anniversary celebrations that take place every five years. At this festive season, the Greenville County Museum presents the work of an outstanding woman artist in exhibition.  Her work is also featured in a handsome catalogue that includes the Emrys Journal for that year and for which Emrys assumes a share of editing and financial responsibility. Director Tom Styron, curator Martha Severens, and their staff also have made the museum’s lovely setting available for numerous poetry readings, musicales, and dance events. Emrys has returned the favor with seven important gifts to the Museum’s collection.

Emrys has teamed with the Greenville Symphony multiple times. The Peace Center has provided another successful partnership opportunity for Emrys on numerous occasions. In 1993, for example, Emrys featured a concert by acclaimed opera diva Leontyne Price.

The partnership that Emrys and the Warehouse Theatre enjoyed over many years proved highly beneficial to both organizations.  In one form of collaboration, Emrys would buy out the house for a production and realize a tidy profit from ticket sales to a theatre gala, with proceeds earmarked for scholarship funds. Among those occasions were The Dream Keeper Speaks: The World of Langston Hughes (1990); Dancing at Lughnasa (1996); Master Class (2000); and Collected Stories (2001).

Several events had taken place at the Greenville County Library and Greenville Technical College. Other collaborations include the Fine Arts Center, the City of Greenville, and the Metropolitan Arts Council.

Because Emrys’ history is so entwined with the community, Emrys has always considered its celebrations and festivals to be gifts to the many people and institutions who have contributed to its success—who have helped make it a child of light.