- I think the experience that both residents and tourists would have when coming to Arcade Arts is engaging with a working artist.

My name is Mollye Brown, and I am fortunate enough to be the Executive Director of Arcade Arts Nashville.

I think what's beautiful about this program is that not only are the spaces completely rent-free, so an artist doesn't have to worry about how they're gonna pay the rent, if they're gonna be able to buy supplies, I mean, we hopefully take that worry out of the equation, and we really are developing a community of artists that are both emerging, established, and student artists, and so I think by creating that community, it allows growth, you know, personal growth with the artist, as well as growing the Nashville arts community.

We have these working artist studios, so the public who may not normally go into an art gallery, for instance, are more than welcome to come here, and they're gonna see artists at work, they're gonna be able to engage with that artist, hear with that artist is working on at the moment, hear about their process, and it really does open up that experience.

So somebody who might not really understand that particular medium of art will walk away with a whole new appreciation and knowledge of what that artist is doing.

You can find a ceramic artist, you can find photographers, cinematographer, painters, of course, artists that work with paper, so there's absolutely something for everybody.

Our mission at Arcade Arts is to provide a long-term home for the visual arts, and a sustainable home.

And I mean, the Arcade itself is a beloved historic Nashville institution, and there's always been a presence of art here in the Arcade.

And so, I mean, I've talked to so many artists who, you know, maybe had their first show here in the Arcade, or remember going to Art Crawls, you know, years ago, or maybe they had a studio here, so we're just thrilled to be able to kind of continue that tradition, that long-term tradition of having art in the Arcade, in Downtown Nashville, for residents and tourists to come and experience.

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