One week after an inquiry from the Banner, Metro Arts Director Daniel Singh has yet to explain millions of dollars in unpaid grant funding for local arts nonprofits.
According to Metro Arts, 75 nonprofit arts organizations with annual revenue ranging from less than $25,000 to upwards of $3 million have been awarded $3.8 million in operational grants for Fiscal Year 2024.
But last week, multiple organizations confirmed to the Banner and to their supporters that while the Metro Arts website claimed those grants would be distributed by Nov. 1, not only have organizations not seen a dollar of the grant funding they depend on for their budgets, contracts that they signed with Metro only specified that they would only be guaranteed 50 percent of their awarded funding. This delay follows a long and convoluted process for establishing a funding formula for distributing grants that left many in the arts community feeling like depending on funding from the agency was a mistake.
In a letter from Nov. 29 shared with the Banner by one arts organization slated to receive funding, Singh confirmed that the operational grant funding had yet to go out.
The Banner reached out to Singh multiple times throughout the course of the initial reporting and has yet to receive a response. Since the Banner’s story six days ago, Singh responded via email to ask for 48 hours to respond but has yet to provide any answers.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s administration referred all questions about the grant delays to Metro Legal. Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz confirmed to the Banner last week that he is working with Metro Finance Director Kevin Crumbo to investigate why the grants have not been distributed.
With many nonprofits already midway through their fiscal years, the delay in grant funding means catastrophic consequences for some organizations’ ability to operate. Stories from organizations of all sizes have come out detailing layoffs, personal debt, management withholding paychecks from themselves and cancellations of programs.
“I’m typically writing to you on the eve of Giving Tuesday asking you to consider an end-of-year donation to Actors Bridge Ensemble,” said Vali Forrister, the artistic director of a local theater nonprofit called Actors Bridge that was supposed to receive $25,200 in grant funding, in an email to supporters. “I usually detail how your dollars will be spent telling the stories Nashville needs to hear and outline our upcoming season productions. This year is different. I don’t know if we are going to have a season.”
Forrister’s email went on to detail various theatrical productions that Actor’s Bridge may be unable to put on due to the lack of Metro Arts funding.
Meanwhile, for artists and organizations that have not received their funding, there’s always next year: Singh said last week, in the email to grantees, that the application period for Fiscal Year 2025 grant requests opened on Dec. 1.