Arts Equity Nashville - Incite at Columbia University

Nashville is home to thousands of working artists who have earned the city its reputation as a locally vibrant and internationally influential cultural center. However, these same artists face underpayment, a monopolistic field, and ongoing defunding of independent artists and small arts organizations.

In 2023, Arts Equity Nashville—a collective of artists, community groups, and businesses—organized to advocate for artists and organizations that are left behind by Nashville’s arts budget. In June 2023, the group’s base sent over 12,000 letters to Metro Council and made dozens of public comments at Council meetings. In a July 2023 vote, Nashville’s Metro Arts Commission voted to approve $2,000,000 in funding for local artists through its Thrive program, designed to ensure public arts funding reaches every neighborhood in the city.

This initial victory was short-lived—after the vote, Metro Legal intervened and pressured a vote to rescind the funding, citing the 2023 Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action in colleges. In response, Arts Equity Nashville filed a Title VI complaint, leading to a conciliation agreement designed to bring much-needed funding back to artists.

As Assembling Voices Fellows, Arts Equity Nashville members Christine Hall and Lydia Yousief are augmenting their ongoing fight for arts equity in two ways. First, the team will create a podcast that archives the fight and provides a community-centered narrative to counter local media. Second, the team will conduct a survey for working-class artists in Nashville to collect critical data on wages, labor conditions, and accessibility. Both endeavors will center artists’ experiences, needs, and demands.

About the Team

Arts Equity Nashville is a grassroots collective of local artists, arts organizations, community groups, businesses, and allies dedicated to advocating for equitable arts funding and distribution in Nashville, TN.