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2 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

a large collection by two celebrated artists in the hands of local institutions (Van Vechtenberg & O'Keefe) was allowed to leave for Arkansas. Shame! 

The Van Vechten collection has not left Fisk...it is being shared with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. They rotate pieces back and forth. It features works by Picasso, Cezzane, Diego Rivera, Renoir, and O'Keefe.  No shame in that.  

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Ron, all the cities you named were far more developed than Nashville and centers of industry with wealthy tycoons to support the arts.  I am hard pressed to think of much "old money" that has thrived here for over a hundred years.  Also, Nashville 's metro population in 1950 was just 325,000. Compare that to Pittsburgh (2.2 million), Cleveland  (1.5 million), New Orleans (690,000), Kansas City (820,000).  They were considered more cosmopolitan than Nashville until recent decades, and there were a lot more people there to support the arts. Nashville, and the whole state of Tennessee for that matter, was not on the cutting edge of modernity even just 50 years ago.

Also, Richmond is a much older city with a deeper history and lots of "old money."  Of course, that goes for most cities in Europe as well.  

In regards to the ballet and opera, it really doesn't matter where their offices and rehearsal spaces are--the fact that they perform at TPAC and Schermerhorn is what is important. I dare say that similar institutions in many other cities don't have their offices/rehearsal spaces in the middle of high rent districts.

We still have The Ryman (refurbished), War Memorial Auditorium (refurbished), and Masonic Temple Auditorium (kept in prime condition) downtown, as well as the Belcourt  and Franklin Theaters (both refurbished)--so we should be grateful for those halls that are still with us.   And the Roxy Theater in Cleveland Park is going to be refurbished as well. I am saddened by the loss of the Tennessee Theater, but the Velodrome burned down, and the Knickerbocker was abandoned and in severe disrepair when it was razed. Can't think of many others downtown that were worth saving. We also have a huge collection of 100+ year old churches (many of them still quite beautiful--especially on the interior)  in downtown, Germantown, East Nashville, Midtown, etc.  and that should be a point of pride.

Compared to many southern cities that have similar growth patterns, our stock of old buildings is somewhat similar. We just didn't have a lot of structures built with granite here like in some of the cities you mentioned (southern cities tended to be brick, and not particularly thick walls due to milder winter weather.)  But our humidity and tendencies towards downtown flooding were not helpful in longevity, either.  As you well know, a lot that was built in the 1800's here was not properly maintained, and hence, it would've cost a fortune to revitalize and keep in working order when it should've been done (the Trail West building is a perfect case in point with it's rotting wooden girders, flimsy brickwork, ill-kept foundation, etc.).  And, of course, there was little in the way of proper coding when it came to plumbing, gas lines, and electricity, so many of them had severe issues in those areas. Hence, much of our stock was either collapsing (or on the verge), or burned down (the magnificent Maxwell House, for instance). But there was a mindset of urban renewal in nearly every American city the swept the nation in the middle of the last century, and much was scraped away in the name of progress.  I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and probably 50% of downtown was razed during the 60s). Heck, even Manhattan is probably 60% different now than what it was in 1950 (look at the two pics posted below). Every city bemoans what has been lost---but in many cases there were reasons both practical and/or financial for their demise....'tis the nature of progress.

It's tougher to get major businesses these days to pour a lot into their host cities (especially if they are newer relocations) because they are not run by wealthy families with established trust funds.  Most are corporations, answerable only to their boards and stockholders, so they are mostly driven by their quarterly profit margins, as opposed to higher degrees of civic pride and philanthropy that helped build much of the architecture and art scenes in places like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, KC, Cincy, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Richmond, Providence, Boston, Atlanta, etc. a hundred years ago.

Like you said, outside of the Frists and Ingrams. I can't think of any other $100+ millionaire families in this area.  I give those two credit for what they HAVE done.  Perhaps there can be more pressure brought to bear on the large corporations that have done well here in the past 10-20 years to help invest in the arts locally. 

Probably 60% of the structures in these two shots of Manhattan in the early 1950s  do not exist today:

Manhatten 1950, 1.jpg

Manhatten 1950, 2.jpg

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I understand where you are at Mark, however one thing to take into consideration is the Sculpture parks in Des Moines and Omaha. Bothof those are corporately sponsored parks and this is new. Where are our corporate sponors. This is all new art. Even the Art museum in  Omaha has a feature Chihuly piece that is two stories tall. Art can be bought now made by new contemporary artist.

We are still plying catch up.

On a theme that is not art, Nashville seemingly has more major construction than Indy, KC, Des Moines, Omaha, and Columbia MO, combined. Just based that on my drives and numbers of cranes. All is not lost.

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^ ^ ^ I generally agree.  But we are ahead of SOME of our peer cities in visual art, and certainly ahead of most in when it comes to things like our symphony and the music scene in general.    

Getting large benefactors to come forward can be challenging---especially when the city is so hot right now with construction, foodie scene, soaring tourist trade, lowest-in-nation unemployment, etc.  Rich folks probably wonder if we even NEED the help when it comes to underwriting the arts.   ; )  

Of course, the answer is YES, we DO need their backing---every city does.  

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A quick visit to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art will quickly put Nashville in its place. Science Center in St. Louis is another example. Where is our Children's Museum? 

My complaint is with the quality of arts the city has received for the amount paid. $250 k for Ghost Ballet is not horrible considering the size and scope of it. $750 k for Stix? I would pay $100,000 - tops. That guy was laughing all the way to the bank

Edited by LA_TN
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19 minutes ago, LA_TN said:

A quick visit to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art will quickly put Nashville in its place. Science Center in St. Louis is another example. Where is our Children's Museum? 

My complaint is with the quality of arts the city has received for the amount paid. $250 million for Ghost Ballet is not horrible considering the size and scope of it. $750 million for Stix? I would pay $100,000 - tops. That guy was laughing all the way to the bank

Did you mean $750k?  Surely it wasn't $750 million, right? :o

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13 hours ago, markhollin said:

Exploration and Discovery, Downtown Library.
 

Exploration and Discovery, Downtown Libary.jpg

This wonderful little statue was originally displayed at the old courthouse/city hall, it was partially hidden by the landscaping and it was this wonderful thing you could discover as you walked through the area-the tiny man seemed to be looking through his telescopes at the tall buildings around.  Unfortunately it was vandalized several times and for its own protection had to be secured in the library courtyard.  People are such jerks.

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