Author Richard Florida captivated creative types with his 2002 book The Rise of the Creative Class, which argued that artists contributed significantly to urban economies. Too bad many artists can’t afford to live in thriving cities.
Nashville’s artists, however, may soon be eligible for loans that would provide them with housing assistance — local nonprofit the Housing Fund received a $200,000 grant to help lower- and middle-income artists in Middle Tennessee buy, rehabilitate and construct affordable living and studio spaces.
Two national organizations, the Kresge and Surdna Foundations, awarded the grant money, which will assist the Housing Fund in its Make a Mark Loan Program.
“The Make a Mark program will provide financing to artists and the creative community and will ensure that the artistic community will have an affordable, permanent stake in neighborhoods throughout Nashville and Davidson County,” said Paul Johnson, the Housing Fund’s president.
For more information about the loan program, contact Adriane Harris at (615) 515-2212.
Here’s the Housing Fund’s complete statement about the grant:
A $200,000 grant to The Housing Fund from the Kresge and Surdna Foundations will support the development of lending products for the purchase, purchase/rehab and/or new construction of artist live/work or production space in Nashville and Davidson County. The Housing Fund was one of seven community lenders from across the country to receive a grant from the foundations. The Housing Fund is a community development financial institution (CDFI), which is a local lender dedicated to providing affordable lending to underserved markets. The fund’s mission is to provide resources and creative leadership to help individuals and communities create and maintain affordable and healthy places to live. With over $21 million in assets, The Housing Fund has lent over $67 million, leveraging $415 million in private financing for more than 4,500 housing units and community development projects in the area.Paul Johnson, President/CEO of The Housing Fund stated “Permanent investment within culturally diverse areas will assist in the attraction and retention of creative talents and will provide an opportunity for small businesses to grow and flourish. The Make a Mark program will provide financing to artists and the creative community and will ensure that the artistic community will have an affordable, permanent stake in neighborhoods throughout Nashville and Davidson County.”
“Musicians, artists, designers and creative entrepreneurs add the special sauce for our community” added Jennifer Cole, Executive Director of the Metro Nashville Arts Commission. “Increasingly, artisans and creative small business owners are challenged by finding affordable housing and production space. As a city, we must support those individuals who write the songs, make the belts and boots and design the things that make us Music City. The Make a Mark program will provide financing to artists and the creative community and will ensure that the artistic community will have an affordable, permanent stake in neighborhoods throughout Nashville and Davidson County.”
Nashville is the home to a thriving and diverse artistic community with more than 40,000 creative workers but the booming economy means that affordable creative production space is quickly disappearing. The Housing Fund, in coordination with the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, will create an advisory committee to assist in the development of a loan pool for the purchase of affordable work or live/work space for the creative community. Artist investment in neighborhoods will transform neighborhoods into hubs of vibrant creative activity and to ensure that the creative spaces remain affordable.
The joint Kresge-Surdna initiative, called Catalyzing Culture and Community through CDFIs, or C4, is intended to help support and expand CDFIs’ involvement in integrating arts and culture into local revitalization work, an approach to community development known as creative placemaking.
The one-time competitive grant opportunity received more than 40 responses from community lenders to an open request for proposals (RFP) launched in September 2014. The RFP sought two project types—arts- and artist-centered interventions and neighborhood revitalization projects—both focused on deploying alternative capital in disinvested communities to augment efforts that systematically integrate arts, culture, and creative.
“CDFIs can play an important role in helping artists, arts and culture organizations, and non-arts organizations create jobs, attract investments, generate tax revenues, and stimulate local economies,” said Phillip Henderson, president of the Surdna Foundation. “However, the contributions of projects like the Make a Mark program extend far beyond the economy—they help to make our communities healthier, more equitable and sustainable.”
The foundation funding allows the lenders to experiment with projects they might not have considered otherwise. “It provides risk capital,” said Rip Rapson, the Kresge Foundation’s president and CEO. “We’re very pleased that these CDFIs are open to exploring the ways that investment in arts culture and creative enterprises and might meet their mission.”
