This day in SVC history

Twenty-five years ago today, Linda Hunt and I sat on the foot of Cherry Brown’s bed at the oncology unit of Northwest Hospital, signed some papers, and became the owners of the School of Visual Concepts.

In truth, “owners” isn’t really the best word to describe our relationship to SVC. Instead, we’ve always thought of ourselves as caretakers — as the ones whose turn it is to keep this collective of creativity going.

Over the years SVC has helped literally thousands of designers, writers, strategists and managers become ready to undertake a new job or add the skills they need to excel in the one they have now. 

It never gets old, and nothing is more rewarding than learning how someone who came to SVC with little more than enthusiasm and a goal has landed the job she was shooting for.

But the story here isn’t about what we did 25 years ago. It’s about what 600 of you have done every day of our stewardship. You are the experienced pros who teach and mentor our students for far less than you make in your “real” job. You do it because you love what you do and want to share your passion. Simply put, without you, there is no SVC.

The same can be said for our brilliant staff. Mariette Collora, Emily Watrous, Fiona McGuigan, Jenny Wilkins, Megan Ingalls, Carrie Radford, Alan Jennings, Rachel Millard, Holly Lin Kahane, Shay James, and Sam Trevino miraculously do the work of twice as many people with half as much time. Thank you so much.

And thank you if you’ve ever taken a class, been part of a certificate program, had SVC come give a workshop to your corporate team, or jumped out of the way of an artful steamroller. 

Thanks, finally, to Dick and Cherry Brown. What a great idea you had in 1971. I’m grateful — and Linda is, too — to have had the chance to be a part of the exceptional community you created.