Keegan Curry

SPP Butterfly Program Coordinator
Master of Environmental Studies Program, The Evergreen State College

Keegan Curry grew up near Houston, TX, but his nomadic parents took him and his siblings to natural areas all across the US, and eventually moved to Minneapolis, MN. Having this experience of traversing the country fostered a unique love of hiking and exploring, and also led him to seek ways of sharing that experience with others. He turned to video as a way to communicate the beauty of plants, animals, and landscapes with those around him.

He attended the University of Texas at Austin to learn the craft of cinematography. As an undergraduate, he took on leadership roles within the student film community, producing a variety show for an FCC-licensed public access station and presiding over the largest film production organization on campus. Studying media caused Keegan to question the aims of commercial filmmaking, and he instead changed his focus to documentaries with an environmental ethic. This led him to spend time in Louisiana after the BP oil spill, and later with communities in East Texas resisting the Keystone XL pipeline. He became an associate editor and sound recordist for the feature film Above All Else which premiered at South by Shttp://www.aboveallelsefilm.com/outhwest (SXSW) 2014.

With a desire to continue working in disadvantaged communities, he joined AmeriCorps as a bilingual early literacy tutor. This involved extensive coordination with Austin Public Schools and brokering relationships with other neighborhood actors, such as the Santa Rita Housing Project. Jobs in the broadcast and video industries brought him to New Orleans where he interned at Grow Dat Youth Farm, a sustainable urban agriculture initiative that offered employment and leadership training for area teenagers. By moving to Washington for The Evergreen State College’s Master of Environmental Studies program, Keegan hopes to continue engaging people with environmental challenges in a way that unites conservation with education.