The Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission (“Metro Arts”) at their Aug. 19 board meeting approved the allocation of nearly $42,000 in grants to 13 nonprofit organizations as part of the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Arts Build Communities (ABC) program.
Funded by the Tennessee General Assembly, ABC is administered in cooperation with the Tennessee Arts Commission and designated agencies throughout Tennessee. Metro Arts administers ABC awards up to $3500 for organizations to foster community-focused arts projects in Davidson County, allocating a total of $41,973 based on each successful applicant’s panel rating.
This year’s list of Davidson County awardees includes first-time ABC recipients Walk Bike Nashville, who will pay artists to conduct youth workshops and activate Buchanan street with art, music and dancing during Open Streets Nashville this October; and Numinous Flux Dance Company, who will conduct a series of dance workshops and film screenings with various community partners.
Among the ABC funding applications emerged a repeated theme of programs uplifting underrepresented voices through artistic programming and artist residencies, such as chatterbird, whose funds will support a Black-centerd creative residency to support healing aural responses at sites of racial trauma and oppression, and Verge Theater Company, who will apply funding toward their Black Future Month, a series of cultural events and expressions centering on the experiences of Black Americans.
“We’re grateful for this long standing partnership with the Tennessee Arts Commission,” said Metro Arts Executive Director Caroline Vincent. “ABC grants are one more program that helps us broaden access to a creative life for every Nashvillian. Congratulations to this year’s recipients, and we look forward to your projects and programs.”
Learn more about the ABC grant program at the Tennessee Arts Commission website, and view a complete list of Davidson County ABC Grant recipients at the Grants page of the Metro Arts website.
About Metro Arts
Metro Arts is the Nashville Office of Arts + Culture. Our mission is to drive a vibrant and equitable community through the arts. Metro Arts strives to ensure that all Nashvillians have access to a creative life, and we work toward this goal through community investments, artist and organizational training, public art and creative placemaking, and direct programs involving residents in all forms of arts and culture. Metro Arts receives operational support from the Tennessee Arts Commission, and additional information is available online at MetroArtsNashville.com