100 signatures reached
To: Metro Arts Commission
Save Metro Arts
Metro Arts leadership has failed at following its own cultural equity statement by creating a toxic workplace for staff and discriminating against women of color.
We are calling on the Metro Arts Commission
- to remove Interim Exec. Dir. Ian Myers from his position, and
- to vote to remove Chair Jim Schmidt from his office on the Commission.
If the Commission is unable to hold its own leadership accountable for their actions in perpetuating systemic inequity, Metro Arts must IMMEDIATELY remove the Cultural Equity statement from its website and all related materials.
We are calling on the Metro Arts Commission
- to remove Interim Exec. Dir. Ian Myers from his position, and
- to vote to remove Chair Jim Schmidt from his office on the Commission.
If the Commission is unable to hold its own leadership accountable for their actions in perpetuating systemic inequity, Metro Arts must IMMEDIATELY remove the Cultural Equity statement from its website and all related materials.
Why is this important?
Metro Arts was Nashville's first gov't dept. to have a cultural equity statement written to guide its work. It is thorough, and yet Commission and Staff leadership have failed at following the statement for its own staff, including that Metro Arts will “commit to exposing and unraveling [inequity] through our own leadership, practices and policies,” and that Metro Arts will specifically “Commit to frequent and on-going, agency-wide honest conversations about race, class, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age and income status.”
Multiple allegations of intimidation and discrimination have been made against former leadership as well as current Interim ED Ian Myers.
In the meantime, Mr. Myers has retaliated against a current employee for filing a complaint about this discrimination by threatening her with termination using the "official channel" of a disciplinary hearing.
Commission Chair Jim Schmidt has provided unwavering support of former ED Vincent and current Interim ED Myers, never questioning their roles in these allegations and elevating Myers to ED while being named in multiple complaints.
This discrimination only highlights the hypocrisy of the Metro Arts Commission requiring cultural equity statements and work from grant recipients (which is important) when they don’t hold their own leadership accountable for their treatment of their staff and the artists they fund.
The Arts Commission has fully lost the trust of the arts community. It is hard to believe they can carry out the important work of - as the mission statement says - “ensuring that ALL Nashvillians have access to a creative life,” when that does not even apply to Metro Arts Staff.
Multiple allegations of intimidation and discrimination have been made against former leadership as well as current Interim ED Ian Myers.
In the meantime, Mr. Myers has retaliated against a current employee for filing a complaint about this discrimination by threatening her with termination using the "official channel" of a disciplinary hearing.
Commission Chair Jim Schmidt has provided unwavering support of former ED Vincent and current Interim ED Myers, never questioning their roles in these allegations and elevating Myers to ED while being named in multiple complaints.
This discrimination only highlights the hypocrisy of the Metro Arts Commission requiring cultural equity statements and work from grant recipients (which is important) when they don’t hold their own leadership accountable for their treatment of their staff and the artists they fund.
The Arts Commission has fully lost the trust of the arts community. It is hard to believe they can carry out the important work of - as the mission statement says - “ensuring that ALL Nashvillians have access to a creative life,” when that does not even apply to Metro Arts Staff.
How it will be delivered
We will deliver the signatures to the Metro Arts Commission meeting on June 16, 12:00