Metro Arts Commission Meeting - April 22, 2024
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Metro Arts Commission Meeting - April 22, 2024
The Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission met on April 22, 2024, to address ongoing challenges including public notice issues, budget constraints, and leadership instability. The meeting featured public comment, approval of minutes, presentations on public art projects, committee reports, and a contentious discussion on the status of Executive Director Daniel Singh, culminating in a vote to place him on administrative leave and begin a search for an interim director.
Consent Calendar
- Approved February 15, 2024 minutes (motion carried, unanimous).
- Approved March 28, 2024 minutes (motion carried, unanimous).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Councilwoman Joyce Stiles (District 29) expressed concern about inadequate notice for the grants committee meeting on April 22, referencing an email she sent asking for rescheduling to rebuild trust. She stated the current executive director was not informed of the agenda and that Metro Legal has refused his doctor's approval to return. She criticized "overreach of finance and metro legal" and urged moving forward.
- Councilperson Jacob Kupin (District 19) urged longer lead times for meeting notices and stated he does not feel qualified to decide on Director Singh's employment. He called for a decision "one way or another" to move forward.
- Alan Faye (arts administrator and percussionist) encouraged the commission to change bylaws to continue funding individual artists via Thrive, and voiced support for Metro Arts staff, stating the executive director had "ignored or bullied his staff."
- Drew Ogle (National Repertory Theater) thanked the commission for grants that funded a production employing 54 artists and drawing 4,000 attendees.
- Lydia Yusuf criticized the push to privatize Thrive, equating it to historical white supremacy tactics to deny Black people equitable access to public funds.
- Christine Hall (grants editing panel) argued for preserving direct funding to artists (Thrive), emphasizing it is "public funds" that must remain accessible.
- Ashley Batch Elder explained the Title VI report recommendation that the arts commission's funding model must be approved by Metro Council, noting that current rules from 2001 are outdated and need updating to prevent conflicts.
- Nicole Williams stressed the importance of clear public notice, advising the commission to provide a buffer between agenda posting and meetings to avoid confusion.
- Daniel Jones (artist and administrator) urged expediting the FY25 grants timeline to avoid a "black hole" in programming between July and award notices.
Discussion Items
- Artist Spotlight: Michole Robinson (storyteller) presented a sample of her Story Beats program, which engages children through reading, storytelling, and performance, funded by a FY24 Thrive grant.
- Public Art Committee (Commissioner West):
- Old Hickory Community Center Design: Approved the "Wings of Time" design by artist Gordon Heuther – acrylic heron sculptures with dichroic film. (Motion carried unanimously.)
- Bordeaux Gateway Project Budget: Approved an increase in the artist budget from $185,000 to $300,000 due to infrastructure complexities. (Motion carried unanimously.)
- Celestial Falls Interior Artwork: Approved a $76,845.48 budget increase for artist Amber Lelly at the Donaldson Library to cover increased material and labor costs. The project used 100% Tennessee labor and 24 local vendors. (Motion carried unanimously.)
- Grants and Funding Committee (Commissioner Jester): Reported on a committee meeting that discussed delaying the grant cycle for process improvements, options for Thrive funding, and the need to align with Metro Code. No decisions were made; the committee seeks public feedback.
- Budget and Oversight Committee (Commissioner Watts):
- Reported that the FY24 budget is $5,461,700; the FY25 request is $13,253,400 (more than double), but the year is flat, so cuts are expected.
- A motion to empower staff member Christina Affote to handle budget authority failed (6 no, 1 abstain).
- Discussion ensued about the need for an interim executive director to lead staff and budget processes.
- Executive Director Status:
- Commissioner Jester moved to terminate Director Daniel Singh, citing irreparable loss of trust with staff and ineffective leadership. The motion was later amended to place Singh on administrative leave with pay and begin a search for an interim director.
- Staff members (including Darren Jackson and others) testified to the leadership vacuum and their desire for decisive action.
- The motion carried unanimously via roll call.
- Care Committee (new chair Commissioner Harden) will meet to rebuild trust through community-integrated processes.
- Communications (Darren Jackson) announced a pilot program creating promotional media packages for public art installations, using in-house Metro resources at no additional cost.
- Chair Updates: Commissioner Love acknowledged the difficulty of decisions and emphasized the need for transparency and grace.
Key Outcomes
- Approved three public art projects: Old Hickory Community Center design (unanimous), Bordeaux Gateway budget increase (unanimous), Celestial Falls budget increase (unanimous).
- Voted to place Executive Director Daniel Singh on administrative leave with pay and immediately begin a search for an interim director (motion carried unanimously).
- Failed motion to delegate budget authority to staff member Christina Affote (6 no, 1 abstain).
- Scheduled a special commission meeting for April 25, 2024 (12:00–2:00 PM) to advance the interim director process.
- Appointed committee chairs: Commissioner Watts (Budget and Oversight), Commissioner Harden (Care), Commissioner Jester (Grants and Funding).
- Directed Commissioner Watts to work with HR to expedite interim director selection and report back before the next regular meeting.
Public Art Committee Actions
- Wings of Time at Old Hickory Community Center: Design approved.
- Bordeaux Gateway artist budget increased from $185,000 to $300,000.
- Celestial Falls at Donaldson Library: Artist budget increased by $76,845.48.
Meeting Transcript
Order at 1205. Like to welcome everyone here. Thank you all for being here. We are in a different location today, so I'm happy everyone found it and was able to be here on time. And we look forward to hearing from the people who we have in our audience. We do have a good agenda today. So we do have several things discussed and some items to vote on. And so we're gonna go ahead and get started because I do want to respect people's times. Do we have um a land acknowledgement or no? If we don't, that's perfectly fine. Okay, let's do our land acknowledgement that we do. Metro Art stands and holds space on the unceded and sovereign lands of the Cherokee East, UT and Shawnee peoples who have stewarded for generations. Every community owes his existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their energy to making the history that led to this moment. Some were brought here against their will, some were drawn to leave their distant homes in the hope of a better life, and some have lived on this land for more than generations that can be counted. We acknowledge we are all standing on ancestral lands, and we honor the thousands of enslaved African peoples whose lives were physically and spiritually stolen. We pay respects to elders, past and present. Metro Arts invites you to join in our commitment to knowing our native communities in more meaningful ways in alignment with our restorative arts practice. All right, now we will move on to our public comment. As always, just know that the public is encouraged and invited to attend commission meetings and may seek and may make comments in person during the designated time on the agenda. Um, as a reminder, the public comment period is limited to 20 minutes total. Comments are limited to two minutes per person. Persons wishing to provide comment on matters that are domained to items on the agenda must sign up prior to the beginning of the meeting on the sign-up sheet provided at the meeting. The opportunity to provide public comment is open on a first come, first served basis. At all meetings, the commissioner chairing the proceedings shall have the authority to manage limit the number of persons allowed to speak on any issue and to manage or limit such speakers' time. And so uh Vivian, do we have anyone on the list today? Yes, we have nine people. Okay, if you can call the first one up. So if we want to go ahead and get started, um, our first up is councilwoman Joyce Stiles. And can you make sure the mics and stuff, the other mic is on the thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you very much, Chair, for acknowledging me. Commissioners for your service. Um, in addition to being a councilwoman, I'm also the chair of our soon-to-be Arts Parks Libraries and Entertainment Committee. So some of you have probably read today's article in the Nashville banner in regards to uh the meeting on Monday. So I just wanted to give a little context and share how we got here. Before I read the email that I originally sent on Monday, I've spent a lot of time fighting for Metro Arts, for commissioners, for artists to be sure that we do the right thing as council members, making sure that Metro does the right thing. We voted last year to give an additional two million dollars specifically to this department because you've been underfunded for over 20 years, and you all have been making it work, but it's not right. So, with that, for me, everything that I do is about making sure we are being good to constituents and we're being good to artists. And with that in mind, on Monday morning, I received a phone call from a constituent to tell me at 7 a.m. they had gotten an alert from the Metro IT system saying that to Monday's meeting for the grants committee was happening at 12:30. It concerned them that they got their alert late. I thought it was concerning as well because we're trying to rebuild trust right now. We are trying to get people that haven't been paid to believe in us and trust that we're going to do the right thing moving forward. And the right thing moving forward is if we are giving the appearance of impropriety, we fix it. So I did ask, I will finish. Um I did ask that the commissioner the who is chair of the grants committee. I did give Mr. Jester a call and ask if he would cancel the meeting. If it will not cancel but reschedule so that constituents felt better about timing. We did discover in this process there's an IT malfunction.
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