By Janice Malone
NASHVILLE, TN — Metro Arts Nashville is the official Arts + Culture office for Nashville and Davidson County. Founded in 1978, their mission is to provide all residents of Nashville with opportunities to engage in a vibrant creative community. This is achieved through community investments, training for artists and organizations, coordinating public art and creative placemaking efforts and offering programs that involve residents in a variety of artistic and cultural experiences. For 2024, opportunities are even more exciting in the new year.
Daniel Singh, Metro Arts executive director, says their THRIVE program helps support local individuals who are working in their communities, he further explains: “With THRIVE, we make it as a really expansive program so the artists or communities can self-define what they mean to be an artist or art project. This year’s THRIVE project has two options. They can do a public art project around murals, or they can do a community-based art project. If it’s going to be a performance or a play or if someone’s putting together a book, all of those would be community-based art projects. Those types of projects are available through the THRIVE Call to Artist services.
According to Singh, THRIVE has two options for funding. One, they can do a public art project around murals, or they can do a community-based art project. If the project is a performance or a play or a book, all of those would be community-based art projects. Those types of projects are available through THRIVE’s Call to Artist services. The funding could be up to $20,000, depending on what type of project it is.
These are just a few of the long list of recent THRIVE recipients from last year – 2024 Black on Buchanan Juneteenth Block Party, Community Engaged Choreopoem, Leslie “Townsend, It Ain’t Over”, Script to Screen, and North Nashville Culture Crawl. Last year 105 artists were awarded.
Singh, shares in this Q&A even more insight about how talented Nashville area artists can apply, and maybe add their name to the list of future new grant awardees.
TRIBUNE: I understand that the THRIVE projects are broken down into categories. Can you explain these? Which ones are individual and which ones are community?
SINGH: They are both coming from individual artists. Both the community public art projects or community-based art projects are coming from individuals, but they’re working in the community. That would be the community public art project. Each is open to whatever the artists wants to interpret them as.”
TRIBUNE: Do applicants have to apply for this program through a nonprofit, or can they apply individually?
SINGH: They do not need a nonprofit affiliation. They can apply as individuals for the THRIVE projects. Any artist can come and put in an application. There are also grant clinics that our staff are offering, so artists can sign up for a one-on-one with our staff, and then they will help think through how to answer the question and move through from there…The Thrive project is only for individuals. But we also have an operating grant for organizations as well. So, if there is a nonprofit, they can apply for an operating grant.”
TRIBUNE: Where should potential applicants and non-profits get these applications?
SINGH: If they go to www.metroartsnashville.com, there’s a grant and THRIVE subpage. It has all the directions on how to apply for the grants and how to sign up for the one-on-ones.
TRIBUNE: Let’s switch over to tell us a little bit about Metro Arts Nashville’s Lending Library program.
SINGH: Nashville is really unique in this program. It’s created to help two-dimensional artists, visual artists like painters, and others who work in two-dimensional mediums, like flatter 3d printing or 3d models that kind of genre. The lending library is open for artists to submit their works of art, and the artists will be paid up to $2,000. All of those artworks will then be displayed in five different libraries in Nashville. And then this is the greatest part. Any resident of this area can go check out the artwork, and it’ll be free of charge, and they can rent out the artwork for up to three months. It can be paintings, mixed media, photography, or three-D works, and then they will be housed at five new libraries. The five libraries will be Donaldson East Nashville, Green Hills, Hermitage, and Old Hickory. So, the artists will be paid up to $2,000 and then we hope that these collections will be checked out by residents free of charge.
TRIBUNE: I understand some upcoming panels, and events are taking place with you guys that maybe the public might be interested in.
SINGH: The operating grant and the THRIVE artist Call for Services will soon have public panels. Anyone who’s a resident of Nashville can apply to be on a panel. You will get to see all of the applications that are coming through, and then you will work with your cohort of panelists to determine who gets funded. It’s a really great insight into the process by which an artist or an arts organization is selected for funding. The call for grant panelists will open on the week of January 29 and remain open for a minimum of two weeks. Once people apply to be a panelist, we’ll get the panel actually running in March, or April of this year…And you don’t necessarily have to be an artist to be a grant panelist.
For complete information about any of the grants and other information, visit www.metroartsnashville.com
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