Metro Arts FY2019 Annual Report Final

CONTENTS
Adaptive dance students gather for class at Nashville Ballet. Photo submitted.
LEADERSHIP
GRANTS
Grants by the Numbers
Operating Support Grants
Project Support Grants
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
Racial Equity in Arts Leadership
Opportunity Now
Restorative Arts
PUBLIC ART
Art WORKS
Poetry in Motion
Tools + Resources
Community Engagement
THRIVE
Learning Lab
Board + Staff
FINANCIALS + IMPACT
3
4
4
6
7
8
8
10
12
14
16
17
18
19
20
22
24
26
Metro Arts Annual Report FY2019
01

SUPPORTING
ARTS NONPROFITS
Eakin Elementary students perform The Jungle Book as part of Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Disney Musicals in Schools program.
Photo submitted.
G R A N T S
With a focus on equity and engagement, Metro
Arts continues to build a stronger creative
workforce, deepen creative participation and
inspire dynamic, creative neighborhoods
through grant funding.
Each year, the Mayor and Metro Council approve
funds from the city's general operating budget to
invest in community arts. Through these grants,
Metro Arts awarded more than $2.4 million in
fiscal year 2019 to support Nashville nonprofits
in arts and cultural programs.
Artists engaged with students more than 110,000
times in the community and at Metro schools.
Forty-nine Nashville nonprofits received Metro
Arts grants, for both operational support and to
fund innovative projects. One such project was
Nashville Ballet's production of Lucy Negro Redux,
the groundbreaking performance written by Paul
Vasterling, based on the book by Nashville poet
Caroline Randall Williams, and featuring an
original score from Grammy winner and
MacArthur "Genius" grant recipient Rhiannon
Giddens.
Metro Arts
grants funded
110,343
student arts
interactions in
FY19
Metro Arts Annual Report FY2019 05

of our programs are offered free of
"All
or on a sliding scale. This is because
charge
want all of our students in the
we
to be able to experience the
community
By investing in our young people we
arts.
investing in the community (and)
are
creating more creative
therefore
neighborhoods.
provide a variety of art disciplines that
We
of our students would never have
many
to due to location, income, and
access
barriers."
language
A R T S I N A C T I O N :
O P E R A T I N G S U P P O R T G R A N T S
An Eagle View Elementary student displays
her marble paint project from Moves and
Grooves.
Emerald Mitchell
Executive Director Moves and Grooves
The Moves and Grooves dance class learns some steps at Smith Springs Elementary.
06 Metro Arts Annual Report FY2019

LIFTING UP
LITERARY ART
Poetry In Motion® contest winners pose beside the WeGo Transit Poetry Bus featuring their winning poems along the exterior and interior. Photo credit:
Tré Hardin.
P O E T R Y I N M O T I O N
Poetry in Motion® is a partnership of Metro Arts, the Poetry Society of America,
WeGo Nashville Public Transit, The Porch Writers' Collective and Southern Word.
Since 2012, Poetry in Motion® has brought Nashvillians' poems to the public via
city transit, including a Poetry Bus wrapped in verses from contest-winning poets,
as well as poems printed on fare cards and on-bus placards.
Poetry in Motion® 2019 brought the addition of poetry on 10 Nashville transit
shelters, featuring local artist Michael "Ol'Skool" Mucker's interpretations of
contest winners' poems through vibrant vinyl illustrations.
Left: Michael Mucker's illustration of Ellen Niarhos' winning poem, To Technicolor, is applied to a WeGo Transit shelter in
downtown Nashville. Right: Southern Word student Alexis performs her original poetry at the Poetry in Motion kickoff
celebration at Nashville Public Library's Special Collections Center.
Metro Arts Annual Report FY2019 17

PROVIDING
TOOLS + RESOURCES
Sea Serpent, Pedro Silva's beloved mosaic sculpture at Fannie Mae Dees Park, is one of the Metro artworks examined in
Metro Arts' Conditions Assessment.
D E V E L O P E R + M U R A L
G U I D E S
Although Metro Arts does not commission art outside of
the city's public collection, we are often asked about how
to incorporate art and artists into a project. Because we
we work with artists every day, we are able to share best
practices around public art and placemaking.
In 2019, we released two resource manuals, "+ Art: A
Developer's Guide to Public Art" and "Art for (W)all: A
Guide to Making Murals in Nashville," to offer step-bystep
guides of the most effective methods we’ve found for
managing public art and mural processes from beginning
to end. Both guides are available on the "Resources and
Toolkits" section of MetroArtsNashville.com.
C O N D I T I O N S A S S E S S M E N T
Many Metro Government departments own art outside
of Metro Arts' collections. To evaluate these artworks'
locations, current conditions and potential restoration
needs, and to centralize a listing of these items in one
place, Metro Arts created the Metro-Owned Artworks:
Conditions Assessment Report, available at
MetroArtsNashville.com under "Resources and Toolkits."
18
Metro Arts Annual Report FY2019

A R T S I N A C T I O N :
C O M M U N I T Y E N G A G E M E N T
Metro Arts is committed to a vital
public realm. We support art that not
only strengthens neighborhoods, but is
also a true reflection of the
community surrounding it. That's
why our first step in any public art
project is meaningful community
engagement.
Whether we are meeting with artists
and community members in a public
park, playing vintage board games
centered around gentrification, or
sitting in an outdoor living room to
learn about the ins and outs of their
neighborhoods, the goals are the
same: to invite the community's
involvement and, ultimately, to give
them artwork that represents,
strengthens, and inspires pride in
their corner of Nashville.
Mill Ridge residents explore ideas for public art at the park with
Daily Tous Le Jours art collective.
Artist Thaxton Waters hosts a gentrification-themed game night on
Jefferson Street to gather neighbors' input for an upcoming public
art partnership with Metro Parks.
Artist Matthew Mazotta gathers Madison residents in an "outdoor living room" to discuss the community's past, present
and potential, informing his ongoing artist residency there.
Metro Arts Annual Report FY2019
19

A R T S I N A C T I O N :
T H R I V E
"The Playground Project created art centered
around the experiences of students and the
community at large, using the playground as
both storytelling stage and aerial apparatus.
We led creative writing workshops with
Stratton Elementary students and then used
the material as a springboard for creating
movement, turning local stories into original
choreography.
One fulfilling aspect of The Playground Project
was our work teaching dance in the classroom,
where we saw big creative and emotional
growth among the students."
Dancers from FALL aerial and contemporary
dance company interview students at
Stratton Elementary.
Rebekah Hampton Barger,
Founder, FALL aerial and contemporary dance company
THRIVE awardee
Dancers from FALL aerial and contemporary dance company perform choreography inspired by students' stories at Stratton
Elementary in Madison.
Metro Arts Annual Report FY2019
21

EQUIPPING
ARTISTS
Seniors from Elizabeth Park Community Center visit Cheekwood with Learning Lab Artist Kristen Chapman during Chapman's residency
with the center.
L E A R N I N G L A B
Created with the idea of bringing artists' unique
skills to agencies and organizations, Learning Lab
trains artists in civic, social and placemaking
practices. Founded in 2016, the program helps
artists deepen their knowledge around
equitable, community-based work and creates
capacity for neighborhood transformation
through the arts.
This fiscal year, Learning Lab graduates had the
opportunity to pursue residency partnerships with
community agencies.
“Simone and Aaron infused
our Community Health
Assessment process with a
strong community voice as
well as a more art-focused
view of our work. They
created art-focused strategies
to help gather community and
participant input during our
Healthy Nashville Summit.
Artist Kristen Chapman worked with Metro Social
Services at Metro Parks' Elizabeth Park Community
Center, to give voice to the seniors who consider it a
second home. Aaron Doenges and M. Simone Boyd
partnered with Metro Public Health to examine
disparities in health data across Nashville zip codes.
Both residencies demonstrate the unique set of
skills artists can bring to agencies: visualization,
problem solving, and reflecting the community's
needs and concerns. Learning Lab was named one
of Americans for the Arts' Best Public Art
programs of 2018 in the Public Art Network Year
in Review.
We will be looking for other
opportunities to invite local
artists to the multitude of
public health conversations."
Tracy F. Buck, M.S., RDN
Division Director, Community
Development & Planning
Metro Public Health
Department.
22
Metro Arts Annual Report FY2019

A R T S I N A C T I O N :
L E A R N I N G L A B
"My Learning Lab Artist
Residency at Elizabeth Park
Senior Center helped me
understand how artists can
work alongside community
leaders to expand and
deepen understanding of
history and give dynamism to
co-imagining the future."
Elizabeth Park residents attend a juggling workshop.
Photo: Kristen Chapman.
Kristen Chapman
Learning Lab Artist-in-Residence,
Elizabeth Park Community Center
Elizabeth Park residents review their portraits from a guest photographer, part of Kristen Chapman's residency.
Metro Arts Annual Report FY2019
23

M E T R O A R T S S T A F F
Caroline Vincent, Executive Director
Janine Christiano, Grants Manager
Lauren Fitzgerald, Community Engagement Coordinator
Donald Tré Hardin, Public Art Project Coordinator
Van Maravalli, Public Art Manager
Atilio Murga, Public Art Project Coordinator
Ian Myers, Finance + Operations Director
Anne-Leslie Owens, Public Art Project Manager
Skylar Peterson, Finance + Operations Coordinator
Nichole Robinson, Restorative Arts Coordinator
Emily Waltenbaugh, Public Information Officer
Grace Wright, Office Coordinator
Metro Arts staff members tour the Tennessee State Museum
(top) and the building site of the National Museum of African
American Music (middle).
Third graders at Whitsitt Elementary pose with their anthologies, created in a partnership with The Porch Writers' Collective.
Metro Arts Annual Report FY2019 25

G R A N T S A W A R D E D I N F Y 2 0 1 9
J U L Y 2 0 1 8 - J U N E 2 0 1 9
Dancers with the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville perform at the foot of Athena at the Parthenon.
OPERATING SUPPORT
GRANTEES
BUDGET: $2,317,975
Actors Bridge Ensemble
ALIAS Chamber Ensemble
Belcourt Theatre
chatterbird
Cheekwood
Chinese Arts Alliance of
Nashville
Choral Arts Link
Circle Players
COOP Gallery
Country Music Foundation
Frist Art Museum
Global Education Center
Healing Arts Project, Inc.
Humanities Tennessee
Intersection
Moves and Grooves
Music For Seniors
Nashville Ballet
Nashville Children's Theatre
Nashville Cultural Arts Project
Nashville Film Festival
Nashville in Harmony
Nashville Jazz Workshop
Nashville Opera
Nashville Philharmonic
Orchestra
Nashville Repertory Theatre
Nashville Shakespeare Festival
Nashville Songwriters
Foundation
Nashville Symphony
National Museum of African
American Music
New Dialect
OZ Arts Nashville
Portara Ensemble
Poverty and the Arts
Senior Center for the Arts
Southern Word
Street Theatre Company
Tennessee Craft
Tennessee Performing Arts
Center
The Porch Writers' Collective
The Theater Bug
TN Women's Theater Project
W.O. Smith Music School
Youth Empowerment through
Art & Humanities
PROJECT GRANTEES
BUDGET: $152,225
abrasiveMedia
Actors Bridge Ensemble
Adventure Science Center
Belcourt Theatre
Boys and Girls Clubs of Middle TN
chatterbird
Choral Arts Link
Conexion Americas
Dancing Through the Curriculum
East Nashville Hope Exchange
Friends Life
From the Heart Intl Education
Foundation
Gordon Jewish Community
Center
Intersection
Luila Village Ministries
Nashville Ballet
Nashville Children's Theatre
Nashville Cultural Arts Project
Nashville Philharmonic
Orchestra
Nashville Public Radio
Nashville Public Television
Nashville Shakespeare Festival
Nashville Symphony
National Museum of African
American
Music
Native American Indian Assoc. of
Tennessee
New Dialect
Notes for Notes
OZ Arts Nashville
Rocketown of Middle Tennessee
Salama Urban Ministries
xxxx
xx
26
Metro Arts Annual Report FY2019

PROJECT GRANTEES
(continued)
Senior Citizens, Inc.
(FiftyForward)
Southern Word
The Theater Bug
Turnip Green Creative Reuse
Watkins Institute
ARTS BUILD COMMUNITIES
BUDGET: $29,376
(Tennessee Arts Commission funds)
Adventure Science Center
Arts & Business Council of
Nashville
chatterbird
Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville
Corner to Corner
Gilda's Club of Middle Tennessee
Intersection
Nashville Public Radio
Nashville Philharmonic
Orchestra
Nashville Youth Jazz Ensemble
The Porch Writers' Collective
Tennessee Women's Theater
Project
The Theater Bug
Rejoice Ministries
Rocketown of Middle Tennessee
Top left: The Circle
Players' cast and crew
of Newsies.
Top right: A
participant in the
Men's Fancy Dress
Dance at the NAIA
Tennessee Powwow
at Long Hunter State
Park. Photographer:
Chuck Creasy.
Below: Kateri
Pomeroy poses in
front of her artwork
at Poverty and the
Arts' 2019 gala
.
Metro Arts Annual Report FY2019 27