Nashville named second-most vibrant art community in nation

Nashville named second-most vibrant art community in nation

Most know Nashville for its rich music history, but a recent report has named this city the second-most vibrant art community in the nation. The National Center for Arts Rresearch report is based off of three things — art supply, demand and the level of government support. “The numbers are only the start of the story, not the end,” NCAR director Zannie Voss said on NCAR’s blog. “Each city in our report is unique in what makes it a vibrant community for the arts. Our intention in developing this report is to stimulate conversation about what makes a city vibrant in the arts and how arts vibrancy varies across cities.” It is because of Nashville’s diverse cultural opportunities that it was ranked ahead of New York, Boston and San Francisco. Stroll down lower Broadway to hear a mixture of country and honky-tonk music. Turn the corner to be just steps away from some of Nashville’s premiere music and performing arts venues, like the Ryman and TPAC. Art galleries and coffee shops are also easy to come by in this culture-rich city. To keep up with Nashville’s growth as an art community, The Frist Center for the Visual Arts hosts camps, family days and educational programs. The Frist also hosts a College Night every Thursday and Friday for students to create or simply do homework in the museum setting. Another event that sets Nashville apart is its monthly art crawl. Art galleries throughout the community host receptions and openings during the first Saturday of every month. The festive event takes place on Fifth Avenue North and admission is free. Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR....

McKenzie King relays for family friend, encourages others to join

When one of McKenzie King’s family friends was diagnosed with breast cancer, she knew she wanted to make an impact on the cancer community for the rest of her life. “It just seems like the longer you live, the longer you know people that have either had it [cancer] directly or know someone who has had cancer,” said King, whose passion for the fight fuels her participation in Relay for Life. King, a senior molecular biology major from Omaha, Nebraska, was first impacted by cancer during her sophomore year in high school. King watched Sydney Vanderspuy, a close family friend, fight cancer. She also saw the effects of cancer first-hand with her pastor and a close friend in the Army. King’s interest in the cancer community didn’t stop when she came to Lipscomb. During her sophomore year at Lipscomb she volunteered at the Hope Lodge, a home-like environment cancer patients and their caregivers can stay at during treatment. During her time as a volunteer, she was able to connect with cancer patients by giving tours of Nashville and providing transportation to treatment. It was also during her sophomore year that she became a part of the Relay for Life committee. As King has grown closer to the committee over the years, she is especially looking forward to staying up and having fun this year. “Looking back, I think that the most enjoyable part for me is staying up a little bit later, because as you go on throughout the night we never stop doing anything.” At this year’s event, there will be Zumba, yoga, lip sync, ping-pong, zorb ball soccer and inflatables...

Diversity breakfast held in honor of MLK Day

Business leaders from the Nashville area met Tuesday morning at Lipscomb for a discussion on workplace diversity in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Lipscomb University Department of Communication and Journalism hosted the event in Ezell Center partnering with the Council on Workforce Innovation and National Organization for Workforce Diversity. Guest speaker Anthony Carter, Chief Diversity Officer at Johnson & Johnson, shared his ideas about diversity over breakfast. Carter discussed his belief that corporations should concentrate more on social leadership and global well-being. “Diversity is who we are,” Carter said. “And inclusion is how we work together. The beauty of that is how we pull all of that together to make sure that we are of best interest to our customers.” Carter views diversity as a social justice imperative, and pointed to Martin Luther King Jr. as a hero worthy of emulation. “His work,” Carter said about King Jr., “in fact his life, illustrates so accurately diversity and social justice. Think about it, Dr. King dismantled the barriers of segregation and transformed a nation.” Breakfast attendees came from all over Nashville to learn how to better support diversity in their own businesses, corporations and organizations. “Diversity really means everything, Lori Adukeh, executive director of 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee said. “It gives people the opportunity to be different, and yet be the same, to collaborate, to be partners.” Attendees also discussed the increased productivity diversity brings. “Diversity, and workforce diversity specifically, really speaks to equality and opportunity,” said Jacky Akbari, director of employee services at the Nashville Career Advancement Center. “We’ve found that when there is a diverse...

Lipscomb puts on show, showcases future ‘On a New Stage’ at Ryman Auditorium

For one night only, Lipscomb stood center stage at one of the nation’s premiere venues for the “Lipscomb: On a New Stage” program. “Lipscomb: On a New Stage” brought hundreds from the Lipscomb community together Thursday night to the historic Ryman Auditorium to enjoy a night of tunes, tributes and takes on the school’s past, present and future. University president Randy Lowry gave the evening’s keynote address. He shared a few important moves that will have Lipscomb grow exponentially from now to 2020. To Lowry, holding such an event at the Ryman meant more than the other option. “You know, the alternative to this was a chicken dinner at some restaurant,” Lowry said. “Where we would have sat there for 45 minutes and eaten and had a very, very short program, and as we were thinking about the day, we said, ‘Let’s do something more interesting. How about the Ryman? How about coming down here and celebrating? How about being a community in a different place to think about a different future?’” Lowry touched on a variety of advancements for the university in his address, including the addition of the new McFarland lab, new residential space, the new Civil Engineering building, the new Performing Arts Center, a new College of Education building, the new School of Public Policy and Civic Leadership, the school’s new Mobile Medical Units (deploying in 2015) and other updates. For Lipscomb Academy, a new middle school, the new McCadams field house at the Reece Smith Athletic Complex and the possibility for LA students to earn a year’s worth of college credits while still in high...

Lipscomb commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Nashville

This December marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Nashville, and to commemorate the battle, Lipscomb is hosting a variety of events. Much of the battle took place around Lipscomb, and the school sits on a large portion of the battlefield. Tim Johnson, professor of history at Lipscomb and a nationally recognized expert in the Civil and Mexican Wars, has organized different events to mark the occasion, and the events take a look at one of the more unique aspects of the battle. “Something else that most people don’t know about, that is really important, is that more African American Union soldiers fought in the Battle of Nashville than any other Civil War battle,” Johnson said. The battle took place Dec. 15-16, so there will be events through the middle of November. The first event was a kickoff symposium at Historic Travellers Rest on Sept. 18. The next event will be Tuesday Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. in Ward Lecture Hall where a showing of the movie “Glory” will take place followed by a post-movie discussion on heroes. “We have three movies,” Johnson said. “We’re calling it the Civil War on the Silver Screen.” The other two movie dates are Oct. 14 that will show “Lincoln”, and Oct. 28 featuring “Copperhead”. The final day of events is Nov. 15. Professor Johnson said it will be the “really big culminating symposium” that will involve several guest speakers including Pulitzer Prize winning Civil War historian James McPherson from Princeton, Joesph Glatthaar of the University of North Carolina and John Baker, a local historian and genealogist. That event will take place in...