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Metro Arts

Federal funding clawbacks cause cuts, fear, creative alternatives in Nashville’s arts community

Char Daston

May 16, 2025

Nashville's Nutcracker (Dec. 2023)

Many arts organizations learned that their grant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts was being canceled. That includes at least five arts nonprofits in Nashville.

Filed Under: Arts, Culture & Music, Politics, WPLN News Tagged With: Belcourt Theatre, Metro Arts, Metro Arts Commission, Nashville Ballet, National Endowment for the Arts, OZ Arts, OZ Arts Nashville

Metro Arts is, once again, without a leader

Char Daston

January 13, 2025

A woman in a textured yellow and brown blouse with braided hair in a topknot talks into a microphone.

Paulette Coleman took over after last year’s chaotic grants cycle. Her resignation means Metro Arts has to navigate a precarious situation without its director.

Filed Under: Arts, Culture & Music, Race & Equity, WPLN News Tagged With: Metro Arts, Metro Arts Commission, metro finance, Metro Human Relations Commission, metro legal, Nashville Metro Council, Paulette Coleman

The key question that caused chaos at Metro Arts in 2024

Char Daston

December 31, 2024

Metro Arts Commissioner Leah Dupree Love, Director Daniel Singh, and Commissioner Diana Perez sit in office chairs at a boardroom table in front of a blue wall. The Tennessee flag is on a pole behind them.
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The debate can be summed up like this: should Metro Arts focus its grantmaking on individual artists or arts nonprofits? The issue has divided Nashville’s arts community.

Filed Under: Arts, Culture & Music, Race & Equity, WPLN News Tagged With: 2024 Year in Review, Daniel Singh, Metro Arts, Metro Arts Commission, metro finance, Metro Human Relations Commission, metro legal, Nashville Metro Council

Metro Arts finally has a grants plan for 2025. It has similar rules and less money for artists.

Char Daston

December 10, 2024

An ornate art gallery on a balcony, with paintings displayed in large nooks with sloped ceilings.
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The city agency is behind schedule because it’s still recovering from last year’s chaotic funding cycle.

Filed Under: Arts, Culture & Music, Metro, Race & Equity, WPLN News Tagged With: Metro Arts, Metro Arts Commission

Widely varied opinions flood Metro Arts meeting on grant funding

Char Daston

November 10, 2024

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After months of confusion and delays, Metro Arts is one step closer to funding artists and arts nonprofits for the current fiscal year. Last week, the city agency was explaining its reworked grant funding plan and gathering feedback at a series of community listening sessions.

Filed Under: Arts, Culture & Music, Race & Equity, WPLN News Tagged With: Metro Arts, Metro Arts Commission

When can Metro Arts distribute this year’s grant money? A lot has to happen first.

Char Daston

October 21, 2024

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Last week, the Metro Arts Commission announced it will give out grant money to artists and arts nonprofits before the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year in June. That’s after two months of confusion.

Filed Under: Arts, Culture & Music, Race & Equity, WPLN News Tagged With: Metro Arts, Metro Arts Commission

Top Nashville Metro Arts staffers resign as future of arts grants remains uncertain

Char Daston

August 15, 2024

A group of public officials in formal attire sit at a dais, with a blue wall and a Tennessee flag behind them.
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Three management-level staff members at Metro Arts announced their resignations at a commission meeting Thursday. One by one, the communications manager, public art manager, and finance and operations director stepped down. The commissioners barely reacted, other than thanking the staff members for their work.

Filed Under: Arts, Culture & Music, Metro, Race & Equity, WPLN News Tagged With: Daniel Singh, Metro Arts, Metro Arts Commission, metro finance, metro legal

Metro Arts likely won’t fund artists and cultural organizations until 2025

Char Daston

August 13, 2024

A woman in a textured yellow and brown blouse with braided hair in a topknot talks into a microphone.
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Metro Arts staffers need time to come up with a new grant scoring policy and to figure out how to manage the Thrive program for independent artists.

Filed Under: Arts, Culture & Music, Metro, Race & Equity, WPLN News Tagged With: Metro Arts, Metro Arts Commission, metro finance, metro legal, Paulette Coleman

Nashvillians can now borrow art from seven local libraries

Char Daston

July 25, 2024

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The Lending Library began in 2021 to support Nashville artists who lost work during COVID. This summer, the program doubled its collection and expanded to five more library branches.

Filed Under: Arts, Culture & Music, Metro, WPLN News Tagged With: Lending Library, Metro Arts, Metro Arts Commission, Nashville Public Library

What is Thrive? Inside Metro Arts’ closely scrutinized, equity-focused funding program

Char Daston

July 11, 2024

A movie poster featuring an elderly blind man with a white cane holding the hand of his young granddaughter, who wears a pink t-shirt and pigtails. Both figures are 3D-animated.
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The program’s future is in question because of its direct support of projects by individual artists, which might violate state law.

Filed Under: Arts, Culture & Music, Metro, Race & Equity, WPLN News Tagged With: Kevin Crumbo, Metro Arts, Metro Arts Commission, metro finance, Nashville Film Festival

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