Grace Reichenau
Staff Writer
Arm & Trout, an annual talent show hosted by The Greenhouse, is its biggest event of the year, according to Camilla Hipp (C’ 25), co-director and resident of the house. Hipp has agreed to shed light on the event’s organization, what to expect from the festivities and the overall Greenhouse experience.
The name “Arm & Trout” originates from the donors of the first Greenhouse, the Armentrout family. Since then, despite relocating, The Greenhouse has held the talent show every year. Students run the entire operation, including what goes on behind the scenes. “It started out a little smaller, but then it started growing, growing, growing, and it became a huge event,” Hipp told The Purple, adding around 200 people were in the crowd the previous year, and she expects it to be just as large this year.
“We usually have around thirty to forty acts. Behind the scenes, we have four MCs and a squad coming in early to set up the sound. The whole house has a part in it, which is really important. We can’t do it without each other.”
In terms of performances, Hipp says it’s “totally random” each year. “I know there’s some unicycling, fun activities, and a lot of music. The bands [that perform] only ever come out for this event. Every year, we do a house song, so everyone in the house gets to pick a song and sing together. It’s always a really sweet moment for all of us.”
While much of Arm & Trout remains the same, The Greenhouse comes up with new ideas to make the event even better each year. This time, non-performing artists can contribute more than ever by submitting their poster designs, which will be sold before and during the event. All proceeds go back to the artists!
“In the past, we commissioned one student or artist to make [a poster] for us, but this year, we wanted to open it up to the whole student body and the Sewanee community. We took art submissions for a couple of weeks and were really impressed! We had so many students and community members submitting work.” Hipp says she hopes The Greenhouse will continue supporting artists this way in the future, so this may be the start of a new campus tradition!
Throughout the interview, Hipp frequently commented on how great the community in The Greenhouse is. While all the occupants share an interest in the environment, it’s clear that the bond between members runs deeper than that.
“It’s just so special to have one localized space where everyone feels like they can come and hang out. That’s a big aspect of our mission– to have a safe space outside of normal life. Not everyone is involved with the big social scene, so we want to provide events that are different from what you’d expect at Sewanee, like Arm & Trout and Pancake Breakfast– different ways of getting together and collaborating that are educational and align with our values around sustainability.”