Nashville Symphony Awarded Trio of Grants Local, Regional and National Support Enhance the Symphony's Mission

NASHVILLE, TN, July 19, 2012 (Press-News.org) Nashville thrives on its moniker as "Music City"— the Nashville Symphony is the anchor for our city's brand. The Symphony's commitment to making sure that music is available to all, through arts education and offering free concerts, fuels our livability and neighborhood identity. Metro Arts invests in organizations that invest in the artistic life of our city, and the Symphony is a pillar of our cultural landscape. - Jennifer Cole, Executive Director, Metro Nashville Arts Commission

Nashville Symphony has been awarded grants from the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. These funds will be used to sustain its commitment to enriching the community through music and arts education and to commissioning and recording new American repertoire.

The Symphony, one of 43 organizations funded by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission this year, has been awarded four local grants totaling $175,150. The grants will support a variety of initiatives, including an educational partnership with the Mayor's "Nashville After Zone Alliance"; a Spanish-language holiday presentation for families; the commissioning of a new work by Nashville-based composer and bassist Edgar Meyer; and basic operating expenses. The Nashville Symphony will also receive a $15,000 direct appropriation from Metro Government of Nashville and Davidson County, which will be used to fund the orchestra's service to the community.

Nashville Symphony has been awarded a $92,700 grant for the upcoming year from the Tennessee Arts Commission, which will be used to support basic operating expenses, including education programs for area students and free programs for the public. "We look forward to the continued success of Nashville Symphony, extending its mission of accessible music, its collaboration with artists in many genres and inspiring passion in youth and adults through arts education," says Anne B. Pope, Executive Director of Tennessee Arts Commission. "Our matching grants ensure the continued growth of the arts, enhancing the quality of life in Tennessee."

All Tennessee Arts Commission grants are funded solely by the sale of specialty license tags. To order a specialty license plate at any time and to contribute to enriching the quality of life in this state, visit http://tn4arts.org/specialty-plates.

The National Endowment for the Arts presented a $40,000 Art Works program grant to the Symphony to support a recording project featuring works by composer Stephen Paulus, which will be recorded live at Schermerhorn Symphony Center on October 4-6, 2012. The Nashville Symphony has earned national and international acclaim for its growing list of commissions and recordings by contemporary American composers. Over the last decade, the orchestra's recordings have garnered seven GRAMMY Awards.

The GRAMMY Award-winning Nashville Symphony has earned an international reputation for its innovative programming and its commitment to performing, recording and commissioning works by America's leading composers. The Nashville Symphony has released 19 recordings on Naxos, which have received 14 GRAMMY nominations and seven GRAMMY Awards, making NSO one of the most active recording orchestras in the country. With more than 140 performances annually, the 85-member orchestra offers a broad range of classical, pops and jazz, and children's concerts, while its extensive education and community engagement programs inspire over 180,000 children and adults each year.