The Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission is a department of the Metro Nashville Government. The MNAC exists to provide leadership that stimulates and advances the arts to enrich the human experience for the community. To achieve this aim, The Metro Arts Commission

• promotes organizational stability and growth
• fosters excellence
• generates awareness
• increases accessibility
• responds to diverse community needs
• facilitates cooperation and partnerships

The Metro Arts Commission carries out its mission with the wide-spread involvement of many volunteers, commission members and a small staff, including the executive director, special assistant to the director, development coordinator, program coordinator, secretary and web consultant.

The MNAC administers a sizable city grants program that has grown significantly in recent years. Over $2.4 million was awarded in FY’03. In addition, the MNAC seeks and oversees public arts funding, such as the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Arts Build Communities grants in middle Tennessee.

Since the passage of a public art ordinance in May 2000, the MNAC manages Metro’s public art program.

The Metro Arts Commission serves arts organizations, individual artists, and the general public as a facilitator, technical assistance provider, and partner-collaborator with other arts groups. Specifically, the Arts Commission presents workshops focusing on arts related issues. The agency holds forums to discuss important arts issues, conducts research, and produces publications such as Nashville Arts Alert!, the Metro Nashville Arts Directory, the Arts in Nashville marketing studies, and the Arts and the Economy study that examines the impact of the arts on the local economy.

The Arts Directory, Artist Registry, Metro Arts Alert!, Art in Public Places, and ArtLinks are available on-line: www.artsnashville.org.

The Registry contains names of artists, biographical information, artist statements, digitized images and pertinent information relating to all area artists who have registered with the Metro Arts Commission.

The MNAC provides a liaison locally for Nashville arts organizations with Tennesseans for the Arts, Americans for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Arts Commission’s collaborative efforts with such Metro and state departments and agencies, as Metropolitan Board of Parks and Recreation, Tennessee Department of Tourism, the Tennessee Arts Commission, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, and private sector organizations, such as the Frist Foundation, also benefit the arts in Nashville.

Contact the Metro Nashville Arts Commission

• for information on arts forums, workshops, and public meetings
• to see the Artist Registry (on slides and on line)
• for technical assistance and arts research