Nashville Mayor: Artists, organizations to receive grant funding after months of turmoil
Nashville artists and arts organizations will receive the grant money they were promised last summer, Mayor Freddie O'Connell announced Friday morning.
Metro's finance and legal departments will "deliver existing funds to artists and arts organizations" and allocate any additional dollars needed to fill any shortfalls in grants or expenses. The latest round of funding has been on hold for weeks as the Metro Arts Commission and the Metro Arts department faced a financial audit and investigations over claims of discrimination and misconduct. The audit is ongoing but expected to be completed in the near future.
The funding process will begin Friday but is expected to take "some time" to complete, O'Connell said.
The news comes after months of turmoil concerning equity or lack thereof in the funding decisions of Metro's arts department and the Metro Arts Commission.
Historically, several large arts organizations have received nearly 70% of grant money distributed since the Metro Arts Commission was created in 1987. In July 2023, the commission approved a model that would funnel more dollars to individual artists and smaller organizations in the name of equity. But a month later, the commission reversed its decision after Metro's legal department advised that the commission's discussion of funding impact on racial groups prior to the July vote would make their decision "unconstitutional."
Multiple applicants who stood to receive more funding thanks to the July decision, many of whom are minorities, saw their grants eliminated or halved in August, and the money instead steered back toward mostly white-led institutions. The decision sparked multiple formal complaints of discrimination.
"This should ensure that all artists and arts organizations publicly notified of awards for Fiscal Year 2024 have the opportunity to be funded according to the greater of either the July or August funding recommendations approved by the Metro Arts Commission," O'Connell said Friday.
Investigation found 'probable cause' of discrimination
The Metro Human Relations Commission launched in the fall an investigation into Metro Arts' grant funding practices after six people, including five artists who lost grant funding in 2023, filed formal complaints alleging the decision to claw back their promised funding was discrimination based on race in violation of federal rules. In early March, the investigation sided with the complainants and 68 other individuals who signed onto the complaints as supporters, finding "probable cause" of discrimination.
The MHRC report asserted that the commission's decision-making process in July was "race-neutral" and within the bounds of the law. Charts depicting different funding models' impact on artists identifying as Black, Indigenous or people of color (BIPOC) versus white artists and white-led organizations were "descriptive data points" that were at no point used as criteria to select grant recipients or create the funding scenarios, the report states.
MHRC Director of Policy and Research Ashley Bachelder said interviews with commission members at the time "might lead me to believe" that Metro Legal overstepped its advisory role to the commission, which is authorized to make its own policy decisions.
Metro Legal Director Wallace Dietz stood by the department's advice that "race was unlawfully used as a factor in determining allocation of the arts funds at the July meeting." The law department secured outside counsel following the report's publication. In a letter dated March 18, Metro Legal's attorney wrote that "the finding of probable cause against Metro Legal is without merit and should be withdrawn from the record."
"A good faith difference in opinion between Metro Legal and MHRC counsel for this matter cannot reasonably be the basis for a finding of discrimination against Metro Legal," attorney Rita Roberts-Turner wrote.
In response to the report, the Metro Human Relations Commission voted to hold a public hearing on the complaints. A date has not yet been set. The commission also recommended:
the complainants be awarded the grant amounts they would have received under the July 2023 funding model
the Metro Arts Commission establish a funding model ensuring future allocations will be distributed equitably, with required Metro Council approval
Metro Legal produce a "detailed procedure guide" for all Metro boards and commissions
Metro Finance to take over Metro Arts financial operations
In a memo sent to members of Nashville's Council on Friday, Metro Finance Director Kevin Crumbo outlined next steps for Metro Arts, starting with Metro Finance taking control of the department's currently "adrift" financial operations.
Crumbo wrote that excess spending by Metro Arts, potentially binding commitments made to artists and arts organizations and mounting costs of outside counsel for various investigations could put Metro Arts at a potential deficit of $1 million or more this fiscal year.
Up to $5 million of surplus funds from fiscal year 2023 will be earmarked to fill unfunded Metro Arts commitments for fiscal year 2024.
$2 million in surplus funds already earmarked for arts will be released first to fund any operating deficits for fiscal year 2024. O'Connell's administration will work with department staff to avoid or reduce a deficit, potentially including cutting costs. Remaining funds would be applied to unfunded "bona fide" grants in a "process approved by the Law Director," the memo states.
$3 million in excess surplus funds will be moved to a legal reserve to be applied to unfunded, bona fide grants. Any remaining funds would be used by Metro Legal for general government risks and liabilities.
Payment processes may begin in the coming weeks, according to the memo. Commitments outlined in the Metro Arts Commission's July and August decisions "will be honored to the extent possible." For commitments made after those dates, Dietz, the Metro Legal director, will determine "a process and date for artists or arts organizations to prove any claims that cannot be readily documented in connection with the July and August 2023 commitments."
The O'Connell administration will also formally request that Metro Arts and the Metro Arts Commission appoint an interim or permanent executive director and cease making further commitments to artists and arts organizations "until there is full agreement with the administration on the selection and implementation of future grants and awards."
Mayor: Metro to tighten its belt in next budget
O'Connell said Friday that his administration inherited "concerns and questions about equitable arts funding" when he took office in late September.
"There are going to be remaining issues to work through in the coming months including an ongoing internal audit that's directed by the Metro Audit Committee, but I think today is an important step toward responsibly supporting our artists and arts community while honoring our commitment to responsibly manage the dollars entrusted to us by taxpayers," he said.
Artists, Metro Arts commissioners and staff, and community members have called for increased funding for the arts over the past several years. To keep pace with other cities, Nashville would need to dedicate 1% of its budget (around $32 million, based on the city's fiscal year 2024 budget), advocates say.
Grant applications for fiscal year 2025 were due in late January. Meanwhile, an HR investigation into complaints made regarding Metro Arts Executive Director Daniel Singh found a "chaotic workplace" rife with "misalignment, confusion (and) disagreement," some of which "existed well before Director Singh."
In a March 11 Metro Arts Commission meeting called to hear the HR investigation findings and discuss Singh's employment, Singh said he could return to work remotely, but no decisions were made. A follow-up meeting set for a week later was canceled.
As of March 22, Singh is "absent with no known date of return" and Metro Arts staff "struggles for direction in day-to-day operations," Crumbo's memo states.
With lingering questions about Metro Arts leadership, O'Connell said it's "too soon to say" what funding amounts will be for this grant cycle, but it's possible the cycle could be delayed.
And while O'Connell has supported moving toward funding arts at 1% of Metro's operating budget, substantial budget increases are not in the cards this year for Metro Arts or other departments.
"Across the board, what I have conveyed to multiple departments is that FY25 is not going to be a year where we look to increase investments in much. We know that it's going to be a tight year at the end of the revenue cycle," he said.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Mayor: Artists to get grant funding after months of turmoil
