Seaside’s new events manager shares what’s coming this spring

Taylor “Tate” Forbes is the new events manager at Seaside Arts and Entertainment Corp., and she has big plans for 2022. She’s planning music, movies and more festivities this spring break and well into the year.

Tate joined the team in December after moving from Nashville. She’s still involved with Nashville Fashion Week, so don’t be surprised if you see her strutting through town in a particularly chic outfit.

She grew up in Ohio and moved to Nashville in 2010 to attend school at Belmont University for audio engineering. The natural musician minored in classical violin, which she started playing when she was only three.

“When I moved to Nashville, this was where everyone vacationed. But when they said ‘30A,’ I didn’t understand. I had been to Destin once in high school for spring break but never ventured any further east. So, when I came down for the first time it was brand new,” she explains. Now, she’s a local.

She started her career by going on tour for a year with the ’60s band The Turtles, who sang “Happy Together.” She then started working with an audio/visual/lighting vendor. She started at Nashville Fashion Week as a volunteer, and now she serves as the director of production and logistics.

Tate’s boyfriend’s mom lives in the area, so they moved here in September of 2020. “It’s been exciting to dive in and get to know people. This place was such a foreign thing to me prior to moving,” she says.

And she certainly did dive right in. She already planned a Mardi Gras event complete with a band, face painters, balloon artists and a juggler/unicyclist. Coming up, she’s working on a St. Patrick’s Day event on March 12. In March, the children’s theater program with The REP also resumes.

“Because it’s all so new to me, I’m excited for all of the upcoming events,” she says. “I’m especially excited that the Seeing Red Wine Festival is coming back this year in November.”

Tate also hinted at what’s to come. “We’re looking into introducing intimate, exclusive pop-up dinners,” she adds. “I’ve gone to several small intimate dinners in Nashville and have seen such success in them, and think bringing them here will be great. Even regarding the wine festival, my experience with events I’ve been to there will have some impact on that as well. Something that we’re implementing this year is a Monthly Music Series, which will be a more consistent program that we can look forward to, especially this spring.”

This spring break, get ready for movies in Central Square (Friday nights) and on the Lyceum Lawn (Sunday nights), the return of Huck & Lilly, and The REP’s children’s theater performances.

And while she’s a relative newcomer she’s already fallen in love with the area. “I love that everything is so walkable and that it’s a slower pace of life coming from a metropolitan city,” she says. “It’s nice that everything feels like it has intention.”