A multimedia, interdisciplinary project to gather, document and share wisdom and sacred knowledge from North Nashville community elders
Project launch event to take place September 5 at Frist Art Museum
We Are North Nashville is a multimedia, interdisciplinary storytelling project, with a goal to gather, document, and share wisdom and sacred knowledge from North Nashville community elders. Led by artist, writer, and community organizer M. Simone Boyd with the support of Andrea Tudhope and Steve Haruch, project elements will include a podcast, essays, celebratory photo shoots, and special gatherings throughout the next two years. We Are North Nashville kicks off with a launch event happening Thursday, September 5 at Frist Art Museum (registration here), and more information can be found on the project’s website.
We Are North Nashville began in conversation. Neighbors talking to neighbors. Learning each other’s stories and seeing how those stories are connected both to the history of the neighborhood and to one another. The project gathers the stories of elders who have lived in North Nashville for 50, 60, and 70 years, but whose contributions to the community have not yet been documented in a cohesive way. The elders have lived through racialized terror, navigated the impact of innovation, and have somehow managed to survive and cultivate joy. The elders’ stories will be interwoven and contextualized in a series of podcasts and essays and shared during community events.
“I’ve spent hundreds of hours talking to the elders and I’ve learned so much from them,” said M. Simone Boyd, We Are North Nashville’s project lead. “I’m excited that we get to celebrate, amplify, center, and just honor the wisdom that we have here with us now.”
The first episode of the We Are North Nashville podcast, executive produced by Andrea Tudhope, will be made available beginning September 5 and features a minister, a Tennessee State University graduate who participated in the Nashville Sit-Ins, and an individual who was among the first students to integrate Nashville schools. Future podcast episodes will be released weekly, and other project materials will be released at later dates.
Funding for We Are North Nashville is made possible in part by Chrissy Washburn, The Frist Foundation, Just Economy Institute, Lathram Berry, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Tennessee Arts Commission’s Arts Build Communities grant, and friends like you. In Kind Partners include Frist Art Museum, Nashville Ballet and Germantown Inn. Unmanageable, a Nashville-based 501(c)3, is the nonprofit community partner, providing fundraising and administrative support for this project. All proceeds raised at the launch event will go to directly supporting the project, and a portion of all funds raised will go to the elders.
LAUNCH EVENT DETAILS:
What: We Are North Nashville Launch Event
When: September 5, 2024, 5:00 – 7:30 PM
Where: Frist Art Museum, 919 Broadway
More info: Here
THE TEAM:
M. Simone Boyd dreams of a day when her neighborhood will be free from violence, and as an artist, writer and community organizer she is working towards that day. Her advocacy efforts have helped secure more than $15 million dollars of infrastructure investments for her neighborhood.
Andrea Tudhope is an award-winning multimedia journalist who spent a decade working in public radio, from reporter to newscaster to editor. As part of the founding leadership team for America Amplified, a national public media community engagement initiative, she launched a national talk show and co-wrote and edited a playbook on community-powered journalism. In Nashville, she launched WPLN’s first-ever daily show, This Is Nashville, in 2022, and the Nashville Banner and its podcast Banner & Company in 2024
Steve Haruch’s writing has appeared everywhere from The New York Times and The Atlantic to NPR’s Code Switch. He is senior producer at the Nashville Banner and has worked previously at the Nashville Scene and WPLN. He edited the books Greetings From New Nashville: How a Sleepy Southern Town Became ‘It’ City and People Only Die of Love in Movies: Film Writing by Jim Ridley.
Unmanageable’s mission is to mobilize resources and build power for independent artists engaged in social change work. Based in Nashville, the organization supports large-scale visionary projects created by artists via fundraising, project management, and fiscal sponsorship. Unmanageable prioritizes projects that connect across history, culture and communities, centering artists who have been historically under-represented and under-resourced, especially in the South.
