The long drawn out audit has clearly shown that there is no deficit at Metro Arts. Departments routinely move funds around as long as they can maintain their bottom line. Every Nashvillian’s primary focus should be to ensure that the Thrive artists still waiting on payment from the July 2023 vote get paid as soon as possible, and then to ensure the fiasco that took place in August 2023 with Metro Legal’s machinations never happens again.
We should focus on the exemplary investigation, legal brief, and recommendations that came out of the Metro Human Relations Commission to make these Thrive artists whole. We must prevent the over reach of Metro Legal and Metro Finance to undo antiracist advances. Everything else, including this sham audit, is a distraction from the work of supporting artists. Previous Commission Chair Powell was clear in her support of the July 2023 vote, Metro Arts’ data review supported it, external consultant’s data review supported it, and now MHRC’s recommendation supports it. What else are we waiting for?
Some other items to note is that there is still no working artist on the Arts Commission. While many profess to dabble in the arts—they come from a patron/ruling class and do not understand the working class concerns of artists. Council Person Styles has a historic “no confidence” vote on Dietz/Crumbo the same week that the council votes on the city budget, we should all support that call unanimously. Corrupt, racist directors such as Wally Dietz, Kevin Crumbo, and Shannon Hall need to be held accountable for their collusion with corrupt commissioners.
As the MHRC investigation and the ethics complaints were beginning to paint a clear picture of corruption amongst commissioners, we saw a flurry of resignations. Despite these commissioners leaving, baseless allegations continue as distractions from the work at hand to pay the Thrive artists and prevent future overturning of democratic processes.
We have seen power mapping/hoarding that take us back to Dietz/Crumbo having deep connections to patron class organizations. Crumbo served on the board of an arts organization with supposedly deep pockets till recently and was instrumental in orchestrating the bankruptcy/restructuring of their finances. Despite the serious mismanagement at this organization with a large budget, there is still a ruling class mentality of putting more barriers in the individual artists by requiring more reporting and such similar measures. Meanwhile Crumbo’s wife continues to serve on the executive committee of Cheekwood, an organization that stands to gain from more funding for large budget or patron class organizations. Crumbo also continues to donate to local media companies thereby buying their silence or the ability to have his press releases run as the unvarnished truth with little to back his allegations.
Crumbo/Dietz/Hall have colluded together repeatedly to undermine antiracist approaches—like the Health Equity Office and now Metro Arts. They used FMLA as a tactic to prevent me from returning to work or responding to Luther Wright’s report despite sending them multiple updated forms. It is curious now that the audit is released after my resignation from Metro Arts and shows clearly that there is no deficit. Meanwhile, even with clear conflicts of interest, Crumbo continues to serve on the audit committee. It is no longer funny to joke about who the unelected mayor of Nashville is—I am grateful for the good work of the Council and the Arts Committee Chair, Joy Styles, to stay committed to antiracist practices.
Our focus should remain laser sharp on the antiracist reforms at Metro Arts and for the working class artists to get paid as quickly as possible. We should end funding patterns that are earmarks laundered as grants to organizations with deep pockets and an old boys network. Please support Council Person Style’s antiracist leadership and send in your support for the historic “no confidence” vote that she is leading on the council floor soon. As Justin Laing continuously reminds us, if racism is the theft of resources from communities of color, antiracism has to be the restitution of these decades long, if not centuries long, theft of resources. Please look past the distractions that Dietz/Crumbo/Hall are creating to the root cause of the theft of the Thrive funds by nefarious commissioners and patron class arts organizations past and present. Do not let Dietz/Crumbo/Hall or commissioners undo democratic and transparent processes and launder public dollars towards their pet projects.