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Metro Arts is, once again, without a leader

A woman in a textured yellow and brown blouse with braided hair in a topknot talks into a microphone.
Metro Nashville Network
Metro Arts Interim Executive Director Paulette Coleman updates the Grants and Funding Committee in its August 2024 meeting. Coleman resigned in January 2025 after just over six months on the job.
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The interim director of Metro Arts has resigned. Paulette Coleman took over the city art department in May after last year’s chaotic grants cycle that left artists and arts nonprofits waiting months to receive grant money they were promised.

This fiscal year’s grant cycle is shaping up to be just as chaotic.

Before last year’s debacle, Metro Arts would distribute grant money in the late summer or early fall. This time around, it’s January, and grant proposals haven’t even been scored, let alone funded.

Coleman’s resignation means Metro Arts has to navigate a precarious situation without a leader.

Metro Arts has several constraints in figuring out how to distribute grant money this fiscal year: The agency is currently under a conciliation agreement with several other city departments, including Metro Legal, Metro Finance and the Metro Human Relations Commission (MHRC). All these agencies have to sign off on a funding plan. It also needs to be approved by Metro Council.

But last week, hours before an important filing deadline, MHRC says it received a version of the plan full of grammatical errors and without key policy decisions that had already been agreed upon.

In response to questions from WPLN, Metro Arts grants manager Sydnie Davis said the wrong version of the grant funding plan was sent to the other city agencies — a characterization that a representative of MHRC disputes.

Both Davis and MHRC say the plan still needs edits before next Tuesday’s Metro Council meeting. If it’s not ready for Metro Council next week, that could lead to further funding delays.

Metro Arts has lost several high-profile staffers in the last year. In August, the agency lost its communications manager, its public art manager and its finance director. Coleman replaced previous Executive Director Daniel Singh, who resigned last June.

Clarification: This article has been amended to clarify the source and the information received from Metro Arts about the draft of the grant funding plan that was sent, and to add information from MHRC. 

Char Daston

Char Daston is a reporter and newscast writer for WPLN. Char got his start in public radio at WYSO public radio in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he answered questions sent in by listeners for a program called WYSO Curious. He went on to work at St. Louis Public Radio and WBEZ Chicago, where he produced the daily talk show Reset and reported for the education desk. His work has appeared nationally on shows like Morning Edition and The World. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Char attended college and grad school at the University of Chicago, where he wrote his master’s thesis on the politics of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Unable to settle on one creative project, Char enjoys writing poetry, plays and video essays in his spare time. You’ll likely find him rushing to choir rehearsal or seeking out Nashville’s best Thai and Korean food.

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