August 13
9:30 Registration and Coffee, 10:00 Discussion, 12:00 Meet and Greet
Nashville Children’s Theatre, 25 Middleton Street
Free and open to the public
RSVP to arts@nashville.gov or (615) 862-6721

As part of a national tour for Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative, Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser will visit Nashville on August 13 to conduct a free arts leadership symposium. Arts in Crisis is a response to the emergency facing arts organizations throughout the United States. The current economic climate has reduced earned and contributed income, decimated endowments, and has left some organizations struggling for survival.

Companies of all sizes, localities, and performing arts disciplines have been affected. The program, open to non-profit 501(c)(3) performing arts organizations, will provide counsel from Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser and the Kennedy Center executive staff in fundraising, building more effective Boards of Trustees, budgeting, marketing, and other areas pertinent to maintaining a vital performing arts organization during a troubled economy. The Metro Arts Commission is pleased to offer this event to the arts community.

A story today from the Nashville City Paper on Salute to Excellence Team Building Finalist, LP PENCIL Box. Winners will be announced on September 17.  Tickets for the event are available now!

The PENCIL Box has distributed more than $1 million worth of supplies to 100,000 students since opening in 2005, according to the PENCIL Foundation. Just last year, 35,000 kids received supplies through the program, according to the PENCIL Foundation’s Nikki Troutman.

The PENCIL Box reopens Tuesday for the upcoming school year. Troutman said donations – pencils, crayons, rulers, and other supplies – are still being accepted.

“We’re really looking for the basics this year,” Troutman said.

Donations can be left at businesses including the Rainforest Café and Davidson County Starbucks locations, or taken directly to the PENCIL Box. The best time for donations is between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Tuesdays, but appointments can be made for other dropoff times as well.

The PENCIL Box is located at the McCann Alternative Center, 1300 56th Ave. N. For more information – including information for teachers about making shopping appointments, and more details for donors – can be found by calling 242-3167 or by visiting www.pencilfoundation.org.

Vote today to help Hands On Nashville win “Mark of Distinction”:

Everyday between now and August 24, Hands On Nashville needs your vote. HON is one of 10 national finalists for the Markham Mark of Distinction, a program of Markham Vineyards that provides two, $25,000 awards to outstanding programs that spark community change.

Vote here today, and select Hands On Nashville.

HON can send you a daily reminder with a direct link to the voting page. If you would like to receive this, please click here now.

If HON receives the Markham Mark of Distinction, funds will support a volunteer-driven food reclamation program at the Nashville Famers’ Market called Good Food for Good People. This project takes usable food items from the Famers’ Market to area feeding programs and compost sites.

Be the Change. Vote Hands On Nashville Everyday!

http://www.markhammarkofdistinction.com

The Alliance for Nonprofit Excellence in Memphis has recently released a report on how Mid-South nonprofits are managing an increase in the demand for services with a decrease in financial support. Click here to download their findings.

Kim McMillandiscusses a recent visit to the Martha O’Bryan Center:

Last week I visited Executive Director Marsha Edwards, Chief Financial Officer Christine Jackson and the board of the Martha O’Bryan Center in downtown Nashville. If you want to find a model of excellence when it comes to caring for the working poor of Nashville, the folks at Martha O’Bryan have created it.

Our conversation included Tied Together, an adult mentoring program that includes teaching parents how to provide the basic care that some of us take for granted too often.

When I first entered the Legislature in 1994, I was among the few female legislators with children in daycare. That was a difficult time for me, juggling several responsibilities. The Martha O’Bryan Center helps individuals with quality daycare while parents work or attend mentoring classes to help find work.

No one is turned away from the center. Marsha and Christine’s work is no small accomplishment. They serve residents across our state and particularly the nearly 2,000 residents of the James A. Cayce Homes, Nashville’s oldest and largest public housing development.

 See also Post Politics.

From NewsChannel 5:

Announcement from Vanderbilt University’s Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program:

Are you looking for a new way to get involved in the community, do you have international interests, or do you just enjoy showing off Nashville? If the answer is yes, we have the activity for you!

During the 2009-2010 school year, Vanderbilt will be hosting 8 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows. The program brings accomplished mid-career professionals from developing nations and emerging democracies to the United States for an academic year to study, gain related professional experience and foster cultural exchange. The program provides a basis for lasting ties between United States citizens and the Fellow and it strengthens the global exchange of knowledge and experience. For more information about the program, click here.

An integral part of the Humphrey Program is the (non live-in) Host families. Host families often act as friends and extended family networks to the Fellows. Since we know everyone is very busy and time is limited, the time commitment is very flexible. Hosts can visit with your assigned Fellow once a week to once a month through grocery shopping, dinners out or in your home, or cultural excursions. More information will be provided during the Hosts and Host Families Orientation on Thursday, August 13th. If you are interested in being a Host or Host Family or have any questions please contact Nancy DiNunzio, nancy.dinunzio@vanderbilt.edu or 615.390.0812, by July 31st, 2009.

Sweet Sleep is a local nonprofit that works with staff, churches and businesses to provide beds and bedding to orphaned and abandoned children. Throughout the year, Sweet Sleep sends teams to travel to orphanages to build beds and work with the children they serve. They are currently in Uganda through the 29th, and here are some amazing pics taken by staff. You can read more about their trip on the blog which is updated frequently with photos and stories.

The Tennessean has a story today on how the arts community in Nashville is adapting to changes in the economy through collaboration and new ideas. It’s a testament to the resourcefulness and ingenuity of our  local nonprofits:

“For institutions like us across the city, it’s a time for people who aren’t traveling as much to take advantage of what’s in their own backyard,” said Cheekwood President and CEO Jack Becker. Cheekwood’s paid attendance is 12 percent above where it was this time last year.

But whatever happens over the next few months, there will be little room for financial error. There’s widespread sentiment in the arts community that funding in all its forms is going to be scarce for the near future. “None of us believe things are going to be the way they were,” said the symphony’s Valentine.

Creative ways of selling tickets have become part of the plan for growing audiences in tough times.
The opera and the ballet, for example, have created flex programs that let ticket buyers buy vouchers for shows instead of committing to far-away dates. The Ballet is offering half-off tickets for children of season ticket subscribers.

“I really believe that one of the great things about people in general and people in Nashville is that we have a lot of ingenuity, and with every challenge is an opportunity,” said Andrea Dillenburg, director of the Nashville Ballet. “Our jobs are to find out how to take this mission we find ourselves in and make it something better.”

The Tennessean’s Davidson AM  reports today on the Donelson-Hermitage Exchange Club naming Sean Perron their Youth of the Year:

Sean was chosen for the local award from the seven Youth of the Month winners that the Donelson-Hermitage Exchange Club selects during the school year. The others were Lauren Terrell, Tony Lemonis, Rachel Elliott, Ian Hammond, Macy Forrest and Lea Wright.

Academics, achievements, community service, extracurricular activities and a written essay on the Exchange Club’s theme “America’s Youth – Stepping Forward to Change the Beat of America,” were considered in the Youth of the Year entries.