As Emory University students and creatives of all kinds gathered on the First-Year Quadrangle for the 18th bi-annual Symposium, nobody could be found without winter clothing. The weather on the night of Nov. 21 reached lows of 43 degrees Fahrenheit with high winds, but it could’ve been mistaken for freezing temperatures. Still, neither numb fingers nor power losses could stop the Emory community from uniting with art.
Symposium is an arts showcase run by The Pulse, a student organization that invites student artists to share their poetry and music with their peers. In addition to Symposium, Pulse members interview artists across campus for their blog while displaying creative writing works on their website.
At 8 p.m., the Quad was quiet. Seats and mats lay empty, vendors were setting up and Emory Musician’s Network Equipment Manager Alexander Szymanski (23Ox, 25C) fiddled with wires and amps. After a few minutes, students began to trickle in. Student businesses like Marty Makes, operated by MC Powell (28C), and a table selling Symposium t-shirts slowly received business as greater volumes of Emory students found their place throughout the event.
Blue string lights hung over banners decorated with Symposium’s mermaid disco theme while rainbow colors flashed across the faces of bands and solo acts alike. Onlookers were huddled together, unwilling to sway or dance. Eyes darted around, searching for any excuse to escape the frigid climate.
However, the night’s music would later break the ice.
One notable performance was an original composition from Zoe Stephens (25C) by the name of “Love You//Lose Me,” a poetic song about reliance on a lover’s charms. Stephens’ incredible vocal range and projection earned her the loudest round of applause for the night.
As the show proceeded later into the evening and the wind chill picked up, the audience drew closer to the front of the stage. There were occasional losses of electricity to onstage instruments, and Szymanski ushered students to the right, worried that stomping feet were disconnecting the wires.
After about two hours of various solo and duo acts, the bands began appearing on stage. Whether it was Emory Jams, SlugBug, arbre day, The Sh*tstains or Sunroom Mafia, the Emory community showed adoration for the talent of its musicians.
arbre day — a trio consisting of bassist Andrew Li (25C), drummer Shane Donnelly (28C) and lead singer and guitarist Cami Yanes (28C) — covered the song “Tamago” (2016) by Forests. The band heard about Symposium through a connection to Szymanski.
“I work with Alex … and I saw that he posted it,” Yanes said. “It was perfectly in time for us to be able to practice and audition for it.”
The metal group Trash Compactor brings together Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory students. Guitarist and Georgia Tech graduate student Tommy Skodje (22Ox, 24C), freshman and drummer Julian Santucci, and senior and lead vocalist Ebite Clement came together with Emory guitarist Easton Lane (25C) and bassist Eric Steinberg (23Ox, 25C) to perform for the University’s resurgent art community.
“I’m really excited with what I’ve seen this year,” Lane said. “The resurgence of WMRE and Musician’s Network and Pulse are doing a good job with what they have.”
Steinberg lamented the small size of the music scene at Emory but admitted that he was happy with Trash Compactor’s “ferocious supporters.”
“It does leave something to be wanting,” Steinberg said. “There are a lot of quality bands, and there are definitely a lot more this year than before, but it’s a little disappointing that you got a school of 8,000 people and it feels like a very small community. I wish there was more variety.”
The band ended the showcase with covers and their original single, “Compacticonscious.”
Brian Epstein (25C), Jacob Sherber (25C) and James Broderick (26C) have been attending Symposium for years, starting when the Pulse still set up shop in the Alpha Tau Omega house’s parking lot for the event. They noted that Symposium was a great way to engage with other students’ art.
“I’m a huge fan of live music — all music, really,” Sherber said. “But seeing other students perform is as good as it gets for the college experience.”
As the sounds of Symposium ventured further into the territory of rock, many on stage and in the crowd began to scream for “The Pit” to be opened. Intermittent moshing occurred under the influence of Olivia Rodrigo and Mastodon covers.
Finally, Symposium XVIII concluded with cries for an encore. There was a riff and a scream from Trash Compactor vocalist Clement, but nothing to follow. What started as an anxious, cold and stiff show concluded as a warm and wondrous sight to anyone looking down from the windows of the first-year residence halls surrounding the Quad.
For some, their final Symposium will be next semester. For others, the story of their Symposium experience is just beginning. However, one thing is clear to anyone present that Thursday night — Emory’s art community is more than just spare guitarists.
