Nashville's Cultural Arts Scene Is Rich With Music, Festivals, Visual and Performing Arts
Does Music City offer only country music? Not by a long shot. While Nashville has long been a mecca for musicians and music-lovers and is best known for country and gospel music, it also offers plenty of other ways to experience the arts, including world-class museums, galleries and theaters.
Live Music and Music Festivals
Music is the No. 2 industry that drives Nashville’s economy these days, second only to health care. Live music of all genres can be found most anywhere in the city, from the streets of Broadway to the stages of outdoor festivals. Music festivals of all types energize Nashville throughout the year, particularly during the warm-weather months from April through Labor Day. One of the first is the annual month-long Awesome April, which features multiple performances by songwriters of country, gospel, bluegrass and more.
Nashville is widely regarded as the mecca of songwriting, and Tin Pan South is a weeklong songwriters’ festival produced by the Nashville Songwriters Association International. It honors the craft with approximately 80 live club shows in the downtown district, including more than 250 songwriters performing their original works. Other notable celebrations include the CMA Music Festival and the Rites of Spring (held at Vanderbilt University), while televised awards shows such as the CMT Music Awards and the GMA Dove Awards pay tribute each year to country and contemporary Christian music.
In the mid-summer, fireworks light up the sky and thousands of spectators turn out for a Fourth of July Spectacular. The event, held along the Cumberland River, celebrates the music of America with a free, live downtown outdoor concert featuring the Nashville Symphony Orchestra performing with some of music’s greatest stars. Unofficially ending the summertime season is the annual Music City Jazz Blues & Heritage Festival. The two-day jam session over Labor Day weekend brings together local and national artists for a festival of jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, funk and reggae.
Visual Arts
Local highlights in the visual arts include the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art, the Parthenon and a throng of independent art galleries around the city that showcase nearly every medium of art.
“There are paintings, photography, mixed media, sculpture, and the list goes on,” says Andrea Champion, communications director for the Nashville Downtown Partnership.
The first Saturday of every month from 6 to 9 p.m., between 15 and 20 independent downtown galleries open their doors to the public for the First Saturday Gallery Crawl, and spectators can be transported from gallery to gallery by two free shuttles provided by the Nashville Downtown Partnership. “It’s a great way to see downtown Nashville for free, and it’s a perfect way to meet new people because the event is very conversational,” Champion says. “Most of the galleries serve wine and light appetizers, and they almost always run out of wine before the night is through. We usually have at least 500 people ride the shuttles, and about 1,500 people attend each Gallery Crawl.”
The Tennessee State Museum is another venue that celebrates the arts, often offering free admission to changing exhibits.
Performing Arts
In the performing arts realm, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center downtown regularly hosts Broadway musicals, opera, ballet performances and concerts. Completed in 2006 and also located downtown, the magnificent Schermerhorn Symphony Center is home to the prestigious Nashville Symphony. Inspired by some of the world’s great concert halls built in Europe in the late 19th century, the Schermerhorn hosts more than 100 classical, pops and special concert events every year. The Sommet Center on Broadway is another hot spot in the local arts scene. The huge 20,000-seat, all-purpose venue hosts concerts, family shows and sporting events, including the Nashville Predators professional ice hockey team.
Cultural Festivals
As diversity in the Nashville area has grown over the years‚ so has the number of festivals celerbating cultural heritage.
Oktoberfest, the city's oldest cultural event, has been held annually since it began in 1980 in Historic Germantown. Held on the second Saturday in October‚ Oktoberfest features a variety of artisans‚ children’s games and activities‚ music and dancing‚ and‚ of course‚ plenty of traditional German food and beer. The event begins with a 5K run‚ followed by worship services at the two sponsoring churches, Monroe Street United Methodist Church and Assumption Catholic Church. Proceeds from the festival are shared between the two churches and the Historic Germantown Neighborhood Association‚ with the funds going toward restoration and improvement to the churches‚ and repairs and updates to one of the neighborhood’s historic homes.
There also are the Greek Festival at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church and the African American Street Festival at Tennessee State University.
And then there is the festival that covers all cultures – the Celebration of Cultures festival co-hosted by the Scarritt-Bennett Center and Nashville Metro Parks. The Celebration of Cultures is held at Centennial Park on the first weekend of October and features a variety of musical and dance performances‚ a global market‚ visual artists‚ a children’s area and plenty of ethnic food. More than 30 cultures are represented at the free event.
