January 26, 2023

BY MATT MASTERS

Gov. Bill Lee took the oath of office on Saturday, marking the beginning of his second term as governor of Tennessee following his reelection in Nov. 2022.

Several hundred Tennesseans, including dozens of current and former elected officials, attended the 11 a.m. ceremony on Legislative Plaza, among them former Govs. Bill Haslam, Phil Bredsen, Lamar Alexander and Bryant Dunn.

Lee spoke of some of the hardships of his first term, leaning heavily on his faith in Christ and contemporary conservative values throughout the ceremony, including acknowledging First Lady Maria Lee’s ongoing cancer diagnosis.

The ceremony included musical performances by the Tennessee National

Guard band, a performance of the “Star Spangled Banner by Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Dakota Jordan, and the administering of the oath of office by Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Page.

A national guard flyover of three Blackhawk helicopters passed over the capitol as a 19-gun salute from three M116 Howitzer cannons cast a haze of gray smoke across the capitol grounds.

“The last four years have brought unexpected challenges to many of us in this state – floods, wildfires, a pandemic, tornadoes, even a bombing on Christmas morning – in addition to personal challenges you could be facing right now that your fellow Tennesseans don’t even know about,”

Lee told the crowd. “It doesn’t take away the tragedy, difficulty or fear, but in times of struggle, we can find great hope.”

Lee spoke as he did throughout his 2022 campaign about “Leading the nation,” touting his first-term successes including Ford Motor Company’s new high-tech plant which is currently under-construction in West Tennessee.

Lee acknowledged critics of his administration and the state’s Republican majority, some of whom were present on the platform stage, including activistturned-lawmaker Justin Jones, who came to prominence during the 2020 People’s Plaza protests and now represents House District 52.

Jones attended the ceremony with a copy of the book “The 1619 Project:

Belle

hires new city manager

BY MATT MASTERS

The City of Belle Meade has announced the hiring of a new city manager, Jennifer Moody, who will replace current City Manager Beth Reardon at the end of February.

The announcement was made during the Jan. 18 Board of Commissioners meeting, and will mark the retirement of Reardon from the position which she has served in for the past 28 years.

Reardon was originally hired in 1990 as the city’s finance director and continued in that role until 2016 while serving in both administrative positions.

Moody currently serves as the City Administrator for Tullahoma, and previously worked in city administration leadership roles in Murfreesboro and Columbia, bringing with her more than 15 years of what Belle Meade Mayor Rusty Moore called “tremendous experience.”

Moody is a Nashville native who earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from Indiana University and

PHOTO BY MATT MASTERS

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CITY OF BELLE MEADE Beth Reardon

LeeFROM PAGE 1

A New Origin Story” in hand which he read silently in protest at times during Lee’s speech.

“We will have critics – critics who thrive on toxic incivility and divisiveness, but we don’t have to step foot into their arena,” Lee said.

“We can disagree and stand firm for our beliefs and our principles, but we should never forget the dignity of the other human being. We should never believe differences are a platform for demonization, or that one man has any greater value than another,” Lee said. “Civility is not a weakness. In fact, it has been and it should always be the American Way. And I know it can be the way in Tennessee.”

“The halfway point of any endeavor is a good time to reflect, but it’s an even better time to plan – to focus on the work still ahead,” Lee continued, calling for a “transportation strategy and an energy strategy” as well as the “need to enhance efforts to conserve our natural resources and preserve the environment.”

Lee also spoke of the “need to protect children in our custody and in our state with a better foster care and adoption process,” following revelations that the state’s Department of Children’s Services acknowledged “foster care instability” not seen elsewhere in the country.

While Lee laid out some challenges and priorities of his next term, he added, “we can never abandon the standard of fiscal responsibility that makes our success possible.”

Earlier this month, the 113th General Assembly convened for the start of the new legislative session which has already included legislation aimed at cutting in half the size of the Metro Council, criminalizing drag shows and restricting trans health care, as well as the possibility of changes to the state’s abortion ban.

What you need to know about new Titans GM Ran Carthon

BY MICHAEL GALLAGHER

Tennessee Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk knew exactly what she wanted in her next general manager, and she didn’t stop searching until she found someone who checked all of the boxes.

The Titans are expected to hire San Francisco 49ers director of player personnel Ran Carthon to be their next general manager, sources close to the situation confirmed to the Post.

“We want someone who is an exceptional talent evaluator, exceptional at roster building and someone who is an excellent decision maker,” Adams Strunk said last week.

Carthon certainly fits the bill.

He helped assemble one of the most

complete rosters from top to bottom in San Francisco, which had the third-most Pro Bowl selections this season (six) and 24 Pro Bowl selections since he joined the team. San Francisco has also appeared in a Super Bowl (2019) and an NFC Championship game (2021) during his tenure.

Carthon joined the 49ers as their director of pro personnel, where he spent the last six seasons running the team’s pro scouting department as well as overseeing free agency, trades and waiver claims.

Some of SF’s notable moves under Carthon include acquiring Pro Bowl tackle Trent Williams, Pro Bowl guard Laken Tomlinson and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, signing former All-Pro

cornerback Richard Sherman and trading former Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner for the 13th overall pick in the 2020 draft.

Carthon had his first interview with the Titans on Friday and his second interview on Tuesday. News of his hiring broke just hours later. Carthon had interviewed for GM positions

the Chicago Bears, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers

The 49ers will receive compensatory third-round draft picks in 2023 and 2024 under the Rooney Rule for helping to develop minority coaches and GMs.

Tennessee also interviewed Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham,

Deciding the future of quarterback Ryan Tannehill, tackle Taylor Lewan, linebacker Bud Dupree and receiver Robert Woods, plus jumping in on contract negotiations with Jeffery Simmons, David Long and Nate Davis are among the items on Carthon’s lengthy to-do list.

This story first appeared in our sister publication Nashville Post.

with

last season.

Cardinals VP of player personnel Quentin Harris, Browns VP

of player personnel Glenn Cook and Bills senior director of pro scouting Malik Boyd, plus internal candidates Ryan Cowden, VP of player personnel, and former director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort, who was named the GM of the Arizona Cardinals on Monday.

Tenn. Gov. Bill Lee speaks during his second inauguration on Nashville’s Legislative Plaza.

Hundreds of people gathered on Legislative Plaza for Tenn. Gov. Bill Lee’s second inauguration.

Tenn. State Rep. for the 44th District William Lamberth (L) and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R) speak among a crowd of other elected officials at Gov. Bill Lee’s second inauguration on Nashville’s Legislative Plaza.

PHOTO BY MATT MASTERS

PHOTO BY MATT MASTERS

PHOTO BY MATT MASTERS

City manager

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Butch

BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

the beginning of July.

Spyridon has run the organization since 1991 and during his tenure Nashville has turned into a top tourism destination. Ivey has worked at NCVC for 25 years and was named president a year ago.

After his retirement, Spyridon will have a two-year contract consulting with the NCVC. His work post-retirement will include recruiting the Rugby World Cup, additional international flights from Nashville International Airport, a Super Bowl and Wrestlemania.

During his tenure, the city built the Music City Center, Bridgestone Arena, Nissan Stadium and Geodis Park and hosted the 2019 NFL Draft. The growth in the tourism sector during that time has led to growing pains, as transpotainment, short-term rentals

The city expects to release more information about the transition in the coming weeks.

and a hard-partying atmosphere on Lower Broadway have led some residents to question the value of the increase in tourism.

“It is hard to imagine anyone else who has shaped Nashville’s growth and success as much as Butch, from branding it as Music City to making it attractive to professional sports teams and corporate relocations to elevating the quality of life by drawing world-class events, restaurants, retail and hotels,” said Kevin Lavender, head of commercial banking at Fifth Third Bank and chair of the NCVC board. “I particularly appreciate how Butch has intentionally supported Nashville’s diversity throughout his tenure, both marketing our cultural assets to visitors and in voluntarily assisting community groups and projects.”

Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.

CEO Butch Spyridon is retiring at the end of June after more than three decades in charge

of the tourism advocacy organization.

Deana Ivey, currently president of the organization, will assume the role of CEO at

Mayor Cooper has weathered Nashville’s storms well, and worked to ensure Nashvillians do the same

BY BILL FREEMAN

It’s hard to believe how quickly time flies. Just a few short years ago, with all of us believing our city was running smoothly, a new mayor was elected. Soon after celebrating his win, Mayor John Cooper was faced with just about every challenge imaginable. According to a December 2019 Forbes article written by Nashvillian Tim Pagliara, Mayor Cooper inherited a city that was nearly in receivership. “After the prior administration had awarded $167,000,000 in economic incentives,” Pagliara wrote, “the

city could not balance the budget without selling assets like the Nashville Thermal Plant. Which, IMHO, is like selling your living room furniture to pay your electric bill. … State law mandates a balanced budget.”

When Cooper found himself in that position, he made the hard decision to announce a 34 percent increase in property taxes. While that decision was originally unpopular, a recent Tennessean column explains that Nashville still “has the lowest tax and fee burden per household of any of its

peer cities, according to a 2020 Elliott Davis consulting firm financial analysis comparing Music City to Austin, Charlotte, Denver, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and Louisville.”

Then, Mayor Cooper was hit with repeated, difficult challenges. Tragedy struck our city in brutal back-to-back episodes. In March 2020, a deadly cluster of tornadoes swept through Middle Tennessee, leaving vast destruction and costing the lives of 25 people, including two here in Nashville. “It would go down as the longest tornado path for Middle Tennessee and second-longest by all accounts since the late 1800s,” reported Fox Weather. “In all, 25 people died in the twisters that night; hundreds more were injured. It’s the sixth-costliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history.”

Only two days after the tornadoes left massive devastation and grief in their paths, COVID-19 made its first appearance. Tennessee’s first reported case of the virus landed in Williamson County. We all know what happened from there. It swept through our nation and our city, taking lives and shutting everything down.

Then, Christmas Day 2020 saw the detonation of a bomb in an RV parked in downtown Nashville, which — though it thankfully took no lives aside from that of the bomber — impeded internet and phone service for many across the county. As Mayor Cooper surveyed the scene that morning, he said, “It’s so shocking that on Christmas morning, this time of greatest hope, you have a bombing.” In addition to tornado recovery efforts and the ongoing pandemic, the mayor now had potential infrastructure problems to face. Other challenges in his first term have included issues with trash and recycling, ongoing problems with traffic, and downtown Broadway being overrun with partiers, making safety an issue for many.

— and he is to be commended for them.

budget is stable with the mayor allotting

federal, state and local funds to items such as to address homelessness and to create a new economic incubation and innovation partnership at Fisk University named for the late entrepreneur Darrell Freeman.” The mayor also addressed the recycling issues, announcing earlier this month that recycling services in Nashville’s urban services district are increasing from once to twice a month. The city has also hired its first night mayor “to streamline the relationship between nightlife industries, city services, and the desires of residents.”

I also include the building of a new Tennessee Titans stadium as a win for Mayor Cooper. Though some have questioned the wisdom of this deal, as I noted back in July, “When Nashville agreed to build a stadium for the NFL franchise, we as much as agreed to maintain it. … [We agreed] that a first-class facility must be provided for the team. … To keep the current lease with the Titans, as taxpayers we would be paying tens of millions of dollars per year for stadium maintenance and improvements. … The primary funding source for the stadium will be the Titans and visitors to Nashville and the stadium campus.”

Mayor Cooper has gone through challenges and tragedies that most city or county administrators have never seen the likes of. How many, after all, have faced multiple tornadoes across 60 miles of their regional landscape, the local impact of a global pandemic and a downtown bomber in their first year, let alone first term? Mayor Cooper has weathered all the storms well while working to ensure that Nashvillians will always land on our feet. And from all

LISA

HEATHER

ELIZABETH JONES , CORPORATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR

TODD PATTON , CFO

MIKE SMITH , PRESIDENT AND CEO

BILL FREEMAN, OWNER

Mayor Cooper

PHOTO COURTESY OF METRO NASHVILLE

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Gensler’s Brian Hubbard talks Nashville’s built form

BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS

Brian Hubbard serves as design director for the Nashville office of international design firm Gensler, a multi-location company for which the original office is located in San Francisco.

Hubbard, who holds a master’s degree from Ball State University in Indiana, has worked as an architect in Nashville since 2011 and was part of the new team that opened the Gensler office in August 2022. He recently sat down with the Post to discuss issues related to the city’s manmade fabric and urban placemaking challenges.

What is your take regarding the multiple projects underway or eyed for Nashville that involve multiple buildings on large sites (for example, Capitol View, Nashville Yards, GBT in Midtown, Hines in Midtown, Congress Group and Centrum in Rutledge Hill, Oracle, etc.)? Can Nashville support so many such developments and are they being designed effectively?

All those projects have fantastic teams with visionary development leadership that will ensure they are being designed with thoughtfulness and purpose.

Can Nashville support them? That’s a multi-level, million-dollar question that requires a working crystal ball. But what I can say is that Nashville has a tremendous economy that continues to prove the need for the development in the pipeline and a planning department working feverishly to plan for a future no one thought possible 10 to 15 years ago. From a supportive capacity viewpoint, we need to understand the challenges ahead of us with utilities, roadways/transit and materials. Nashville isn’t like many other major cities that had large plans that laid the groundwork for such dense environments.

The “effectively” question is, in large part, a planning discussion with these large parcels and multi-building sites — and each location/parcel is different. I can’t speak to all the efficiencies of each one, but I can say there are multiple criteria to consider when designing a large, mixed-use project. From

setting up the design drivers all the way to the aesthetics, they are all thinking about how they can provide an experience that is not found elsewhere within Nashville while creating better connectivity and improving the urban condition.

Notwithstanding urban Nashville’s many hills, rivers, viaducts, railroad tracks, street splits, T-intersections, etc. — which allow for both interesting and distinctive buildings and the orientations/arrangements of those structures — what are some other “advantages” Nashville has for future development that a flat and/or excessively gridded (or excessively suburban streetscaped) city might not have?

You said it well at the beginning. The roadways, infrastructure network and lack of a sprawling grid produce interesting parcels that create opportunities for distinctive buildings, view corridors and neighborhoods, not too far off from a city that is planned in a more nodal way.

The topography’s major natural advantage are the intrigue and views it creates. Many have climbed a tree or a hill to see what’s beyond. In an urban environment, you can do this in a building, provided you have access to it. And in Nashville, you can climb to the top of places like Fort Negley or Capitol Hill and take in the 360-degree views of the city. This differentiates us from cities like Houston, Dallas or Chicago, which are flat, gridded metropolises that go on for miles with little difference underfoot. The change in topography allows for moments of discovery and intrigue as you move through the city.

Topography also creates many challenges in shaping the built environment. But like any fantastic opportunity, we’ve turned our weaknesses into strengths. The city’s dense rock, which creates peaks and valleys, is often seen as an obstacle with excavation. But Nashville embraces it and digs in to build parking below grade, providing more groundfloor area and greenspace to the public.

Flat parcels require service, parking and

building program entries to all interact on the same level. This can create divisions of ground-floor activation and long stretches of inactivated streetscape. I point to Fifth + Broadway as a prime example. The 36-foot grade difference along both Fifth Avenue and Broadway allows users to enter on grade, walk over the top of parking and pedestrian entries and arrive at the second level of the food hall. This ease of movement activates multiple layers of the project and adds to the excitement drawing people up and into the site.

If you could make changes to the Hyatt Place hotel building on Third Avenue in SoBro — a stucco-skinned structure many local urban placemaking experts and hobbyists alike contend is perhaps the most unattractive large building Nashville’s downtown has landed since 2000 — what would they be? For example, I’ve heard suggestions including an exterior paint job, placing eaves over the windows and adding lightweight aluminum elements to the building’s corners.

Nashville has a great history of exceptional design as well as buildings that are urban infill and background buildings. All these buildings define and supplement the urban fabric. What is important to analyze, as we scrutinize buildings, are the standards and processes put in place to hold every development to the same standard of care and accountability for developing a fantastic urban environment. It extends beyond facades and into the urban activation, so we create a cohesive, pedestrian friendly downtown.

What is an example of a highly underrated downtown building?

Highly underrated might not be the right term now, but the modernist Fairlane Hotel building (formerly the Nashville headquarters of the no longer operational Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan) sat vacant for a long time. Its elegant lines, simple form and sophisticated use of travertine and glass offer elegance — even when it once had graffiti on it.

Given the Music City Center is a building of significance — both in terms of size and economic impact — what are some positive design characteristics and some that could have been more effective?

Music City Center was a foundational addition to Nashville that spurred a hospitality boom. It’s a fantastic economic driver that brings all types of commerce and tourism to the city. As a large conference center in the urban environment, there was careful thought in planning around the vehicular traffic and service trucks to minimize their impact on the urban realm and provide a great user experience.

The landscaping and plaza space allows

for a transition of scale, while the building’s transparency and permeable ground floor keeps the internal user connected with the city and the external pedestrian connected to the grid.

As to improvements, you might think about how a large, internally focused building could find more ways to activate the ground floor and provide more urban continuity through ground-floor and plaza programing.

Some locals would like to see Nashville land more buildings that offer timeless materials and forms — structures like Vanderbilt University’s 300-foot-tall Collegiate Gothic Revival-style tower and the Belmont University Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Your thoughts?

I’m not partial to any style if it’s done with thoughtfulness and quality. I appreciate what Vanderbilt has built with the attention to the detail and the diversity of design materiality it brings to Nashville.

What is an example of an outstanding urban space located in another city that would look and function attractively in Nashville? And where would you, hypothetically, place it?

So many singular buildings have contextual relationships with their surroundings that make it hard to choose a singular building. Maybe a twist to the question is to think about what great urban spaces should we consider learning from that support diversity of scale, use and access.

Many city skylines are defined by singular buildings — ours being the Batman Building. But Nashville has an asset that has long been ignored and that shaped it for years: the Cumberland River. Nashville is growing into a city that will be defined by its activated/programmed/accessible spaces and the experiences they provide. Great urban spaces are created through a partnership of thoughtful planning, landscape, programming and creative building solutions that activate the places we seek. Some of the newly completed/planned urban spaces that come to mind are those at the Wharf in Washington D.C., Boston Seaport or Water Street in Tampa. Places like this work with and engage the natural elements their respective cities have to offer and are notable examples of what Nashville could aspire to achieve.

This story first appeared in our sister publication Nashville Post.

Metro Water Services to begin bi-weekly curbside recycling pickup services Monday

recycling services will divert significant waste from our landfills,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper said in a Jan. 11 news release.

“Recycling is not just a matter of personal responsibility, it is a collective effort that has the power to transform our city and preserve our neighborhoods – it is a promise to create a future that is worthy of our children. I’m proud that we can deliver this new service to our residents.”

The city will give all residents who are currently receiving curbside services a new recycling collection schedule starting on Monday.

Residents can view their new collection schedule and sign up for collection day reminders online at Recycle.Nashville.gov or by downloading the Nashville Waste and Recycling App which is available for free on iOS and Android mobile devices.

The city said that the capital costs for the service will be funded through prior existing Metro capital budget allocations, as well as grants from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and The Recycling Partnership.

city’s goal of cutting carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.

The city also plans to generate 35% of its energy from renewable sources by 2025, with a total renewable energy reliance planned in 20 years.

“Since Waste Services joined MWS a year and a half ago, we have been working towards stabilizing trash service and providing our residents with increased recycling collection services. Going from once a month to every other week recycling pick up not only meets our resident’s needs, but it also aligns us with our peer cities, is a win for Nashville’s Zero Waste Master Plan, and moves us towards a more sustainable Nashville.”

Residents who are interested in recycling more of their household waste can request a free additional recycling cart (limit of three per household) via hubNashville by calling 311 from within Davidson County or by visiting hub.nashville.gov.

More information about Nashville’s recycling programs can be found on the Metro Water Services website or by calling 615-862-5000.

“This

Mayor Cooper first proposed the increase in residential recycling from once a month to a bi-weekly schedule in 2021, citing the

Metro Water Services will begin biweekly curbside recycling pickup services for Nashville residents starting Monday, Jan. 30.

important increase in our curbside

PHOTO BY ERIC ENGLAND

Belmont names Ed Magee VP for Strategic Operations

STAFF REPORTS

Belmont University has named Edward “Ed” Magee as Vice President for Strategic Operations.

According to a release from the school, the position is a new role that will be responsible for connecting the work of major University initiatives including the Belmont Data Collaborative, Belmont Innovation Labs, Story Studio and the Office of Educational Innovation.

Magee will begin this role on Feb. 13. “Belmont exemplifies everything that great communities are built upon—values, stewardship and a sense of belonging to something much greater than self,” Ed Magee said in the release. “I could not be more thrilled to join this incredible and growing team.”

Magee will also serve as the Executive-inResidence for the Massey College of Business where he will teach and work alongside the

20-year FBI veteran Jeff Dale appointed Lipscomb University campus safety chief

STAFF REPORTS

proactive response planning and execution of complex security initiatives along with his deep commitment to Lipscomb’s mission make Jeff uniquely qualified to lead this office and to expand our focus in this area.”

During his FBI career, Dale has worked in the Portland, Oregon field office investigating bank robberies, child abductions and organized criminal enterprises and spent time as a Supervisory Special Agent in the Counterintelligence Division at the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he was assigned to the unit responsible for overseeing investigations involving espionage and technology transfer.

college’s leadership team “to consider how Belmont can continue to play a strong role in developing innovative approaches for the business community and beyond.”

Prior to his appointment at Belmont, Magee served as the Executive Vice President of Operations at musical instruments company Fender and was a senior executive at Harley-Davidson.

Magee has also served on the Board of Visitors at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, the Fender Play Foundation, the Boys & Girls Club of Metro LA , and in an advisory role for the National Association of Manufacturers “Heroes MAKE America” Veterans Transition Program. He is currently serving as an Independent Director on the Board of WD-40.

Magee, a combat veteran, holds a Master of Business Administration from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University,

a Master of Public Administration from George Mason University, and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy.

“We are excited to welcome Ed Magee to Belmont in a role that will support our growing and ongoing efforts to impact the world in meaningful ways,” Belmont President Dr. Greg Jones said. “His demonstrated commitment to creative, collaborative and entrepreneurial thinking— and his impressive experience focused on operational excellence—provide an incredible foundation for all that Belmont is working toward as we seek to impact human and community flourishing.”

Lipscomb University has appointed Brentwood resident and former Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Jeff Dale as the University’s chief of campus security.

Dale retired from the FBI after a 20-year career in October and will begin his stint with Lipscomb on Feb. 1.

“The safety and security of our students and the entire Lipscomb community is a top priority,” said Lipscomb President Candice McQueen in a news release.

“Jeff’s expertise in multiple facets of security, identifying and mitigating risk, and

Over the last 12 years, Dale was assigned to the Memphis Division, Nashville Resident Agency. While in Memphis, in addition to his counterintelligence investigative activities, Dale was a firearms, tactical and active shooter certified instructor and a sniper team leader for the Memphis Division FBI SWAT team.

“I am excited to bring the experiences and training I received from the FBI back to Lipscomb,” said Dale. “I hope to build on the legacy of those who came before me, and bring another level of professionalism to this department. It’s important to have a campus safety and security team who is prepared at the highest level in order to provide the safest environment for students, faculty, staff and guests who step foot on the Lipscomb campus.”

Ensworth celebrates investiture of Prentice Stabler

STAFF REPORTS

said Stabler in a release from the school. “Ensworth’s strength today is a result of the work of generations of faculty, staff, and families. I am eager to build upon our history and traditions, continuing to develop Ensworth as a dynamic community of learners and a national leader in K-12, co-ed education.”

The ceremony took place at Ensworth’s Frist Campus, which is located off Highway 100 and is where the high school operates, and included a keynote address from Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier, an academic procession with Ensworth faculty members and the Board of Trustees, student speeches and performances, and other presentations from members of the Ensworth community.

The Ensworth School celebrated the investiture of C. Prentice Stabler on Thursday, Jan. 19.

Stabler was named the eighth Head of School in Ensworth’s history in July after previously serving as the Head of Upper School and Associate Head of School at Franklin Road Academy.

“I’m deeply honored to serve as Ensworth’s eighth Head of School,”

“We are excited to celebrate Prentice Stabler, a purpose-driven leader who is guiding Ensworth into a new and promising era of excellence,” Ensworth Board of Trustees President Will Morrow said. “It is meaningful to all of us to mark this important milestone while giving Prentice the opportunity to share his vision for Ensworth with a united community.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF BELMONT UNIVERSITY

Ed Magee

PHOTO COURTESY OF LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY

Jeff Dale

PHOTO COURTESY OF ENSWORTH SCHOOL

C. Prentice Stabler

Titans to play 2023 game in London

BY MICHAEL GALLAGHER

The Tennessee Titans will technically play nine home games in 2023, but the home-field advantage is questionable for one of those games.

The NFL announced on Thursday that the Titans would be playing a game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next season as part of the league’s International Series. Tennessee’s opponent, as well as date and start time for the game will be determined at a later date.

“We are excited to represent the NFL in London this season,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said in a release. “I really enjoyed our experience during our last visit. The energy in the stadium and the atmosphere surrounding the game was impressive, and I am looking forward to being part of that again.”

The game will mark the second time the Titans have played an overseas game following the team’s 20-19 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in 2018 at Wembley Stadium, also in London.

In that game, Marcus Mariota threw for 237 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Dion Lewis rushed for 91 yards on 13 carries while Derrick Henry had 33 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.

The Titans led 3-0 after a Ryan Succop 28-yard field goal in the first quarter but the Chargers responded with a 75-yard touchdown pass on the next drive, and they never trailed for the rest of the game.

“It’s an honor to be one of the teams representing the NFL abroad in 2023 and play a role in continuing the incredible growth our sport has seen in the UK,” Titans President and CEO Burke Nihill said in a release. “The atmosphere in London leading up to and at our game in 2018 was absolutely electric.

“Since then, we’ve remained in touch with our UK-based Titans fans and they’ve grown into one of our most enthusiastic fan bases. We can’t wait to see them again this upcoming season at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and know many of our fans here in Tennessee will be excited to make the trip as well.”

In addition to the Titans, the NFL also announced that the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars will play 2023 games in the United Kingdom, and the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots will play 2023 games in Germany.

This story first appeared in our sister publication Nashville Post.

Bellevue site set for commercial development

BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS

A large piece of primarily raw land located in Bellevue — and representing an entrance to one of the West Davidson County community’s multiple commercial areas — has sold for $2 million.

The new owner of the 9.07-acre property, with an address of 8033 Highway 100, is a partnership affiliated with Nashville-based commercial real estate company Equitable Property Company.

Land Deleot, Equitable president, said he plans to develop the site with retail buildings. In addition, ground leases will be made available for entities that want to own their commercial buildings on the site.

Deleot had the land rezoned in 2022 to accommodate commercial development. He is working with Woody Widenhofer, a partner with the local office of Colliers, to market the wooded property, which is located on the eastern fringe of a commercial stretch of Highway 100 between Temple

Road on the east and Chaffin Drive on the West. As such, the future commercial businesses will join a Sonic Drive-In (located on the north side of the highway across from the just-purchased tract) as the first seen by westbound motorists driving Highway 100 from east of the area.

“I live in this ZIP code and have a personal stake in what happens on this site,” Deleot told the Post. “We are going to target retailers that this corridor needs and the community will benefit from.”

The property offers one home, long owned by the Flanigan family (the sellers). Widenhofer represented the Flanigans in the deal. Equitable Property Company represented the buying partnership (which includes Deleot and Equitable development partner Austin Cox).

This story first appeared in our sister publication Nashville Post.

Berry Hill building sells for $1.55M

BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS

A Berry Hill building has sold for $1.55 million — with the new owner having previously operated the since-closed Green Hills spa and boutique Tiba Nu.

According to a Davidson County Register of Deeds document, the seller of the property, located at 609 W. Iris Drive, was Iris House GP, led by Ashley Crim Boyd (details about whom the Post was unable to determine).

The GP paid $484,000 for the property, which had been previously listed for $1,725,000, in January 2017, according to Metro records. Marketing materials do not note if the office building has undergone updates since then.

Nuhad Khoury Hunter, the buyer, maintains a social media website presence

for Tiba Nu. She could not be reached for comment regarding the possibility of her re-opening the spa in Berry Hill, and it is unclear when the business ceased operations in Green Hills.

The estate of Hunter’s late husband, James Ronald Hunter, in July 2022 sold for $5 million a Green Hills commercial building on Crestmoor Road.

The sale of the Berry Hill property is the equivalent of $871 per square foot based on the 1941-opened building’s 1,778 square feet.

Stephen Prather and Tee Patterson, cosenior vice presidents of Nashville-based Chas. Hawkins Co., seemingly represented Crim and the partnership in the sale of the property.

Nearby, a similar property at 606 W. Iris Drive is listed for $1.5 million.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

TRISTAR ADDS TO C-SUITES

Nashville-based HCA Healthcare has named Mark Miller chief executive officer at its TriStar Skyline Medical Center.

Miller comes to Skyline from another HCA property, West Hills Hospital in West Hills, Calif., where he has been CEO for four years. He has held previous positions at hospitals in Florida and South Carolina.

Miller attended Middle Tennessee State University.

“Mark is an experienced health care leader with a passion for providing unparalleled patient care with the highest quality standards,” Mitch Edgeworth, president of the HCA Healthcare TriStar Division, said in a release. “TriStar Skyline serves a multi-state region, and Mark will continue to enhance the high-acuity services offered at the hospital while elevating each patient’s experience.”

Becker’s Hospital Review reported that the previous Skyline CEO, Dustin Greene, is now CEO of Texas-based QuickVisit Urgent Care.

WORK CONTINUES ON SOUTH DAVIDSON COUNTY TOWNHOMES

Ardent Development is targeting a June start of presales for its under-construction 94-unit gated townhome development in South Nashville’s Glencliff area.

According to a release, work on Noble Place is unfolding on a site located near the Thompson Lane and Interstate 24 intersection, an area that has seen “very little new residential development.” The address is 3134 Glencliff Road.

The release notes with the first units are expected to be delivered in November. Prices start in the $400,000s.

Noble Place will offer two-story units with “high-quality upgrades and finishes.” The townhome units will range in size from 1,600 to 2,000 square feet and offer four floor plans, which include either a one- or two-car garage. In addition, the development will feature a two-acre park and walking trails.

“This is a great location for families and those who want to be in the heart of Nashville,” Jody Roberts, one of the lead developers of Ardent Development, said in the release.

This is the second Greater Nashville townhome development for Ardent Development, which Roberts founded with Joe Brooks and Brent Smith. The first was Noble Park in Gallatin, the units for which are fully sold.

Ardent is also planning to build Noble Heights, a 66-unit short-term rental development to be located in North Davidson County.

AYERS FOUNDATION ADDS CEO

The Ayers Foundation announced Thursday that Dr. Burton Williams — known for his work in Nashville’s financial

services and higher education sectors — has been hired as chief executive officer.

According to a release, the position is newly created, with Williams to work closely with Janet Ayers, president of the Parsons, Tennessee-based nonprofit. He is expected to split his time between Nashville and Parsons.

With the addition of Williams, Susan Rhodes, Ayers Foundation senior adviser to the president and former executive director of the entity’s scholars program, is now focused on strategies, policies and projects, the release notes.

Most recently, Williams was lead financial planner and director of Brentwood-based TrustCore Institutional. He previously served as Lipscomb University associate vice president for advancement and as both the university’s assistant dean of the college of education and associate dean of the college of business. Williams earlier held similar roles at FreedHardeman University in West Tennessee.

Williams holds a Doctor of Education degree from Lipscomb and both a Master of Science degree in financial planning and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from Freed-Hardeman.

Co-founded in 1999 by Ayers and husband Jim Ayers, The Ayers Foundation provides college access, counseling and scholarships to rural students, while also supporting medical services for children, research into pre-cancer detection and diagnosis, continuing professional education and development for teachers.

The Ayers Foundation and Nashvillebased FirstBank are loosely affiliated, as Jim Ayers was the sole owner of FirstBank prior to the initial public offering in September 2016 of parent company FB Financial. Ayers stepped down as FB Financial executive chairman in early 2021 yet still has some ownership stake in the company.

The foundation garnered local headlines in 2016 when it gifted Belmont University $15 million, the then-largest single donation in the institution’s 125-year history.

“We wanted someone who values our student-centered culture and our focus on helping rural communities, with the proven business and management experience to work with our standing team to rapidly scale our efforts and help move us forward,” Janet Ayers said in the release. “Having known Dr. Williams for several years, we believe our search led us to the best candidate reflecting these values and skills. He has nearly 25 years of experience in administration, community engagement, academics and research.”

Have a promotion you wish to submit to Business briefs? Send to news@gcanews.com

MEDICAID EXPANSION

For some time now it has troubled me that our state will not take the Medicaid expansion funds as part of the ACA. We should hold these representatives accountable, but this will not happen in this state. Instead, we will allocate half a billion to the Titans and pat ourselves on the back. Sad.

TICKED OFF!

I read with some amusement and sadness the most recent TICKED OFF! section of

TICKED OFF!

the January 19 edition of your newspaper.

The final “letter was an appeal to keep sending in reader letters”. Well, I do have an issue that I am mighty “TICKED OFF” about! What’s happened to your newspaper?

It’s gone from being a nice neighborhood periodical where I could learn any number of things such as, Taxing Matters, Local History, School News, Local Crime, etc. Now almost 98% of the content is about the “Super Republican Majority” and how awful and almost evil the Republican Party is. The other 2% seems to be either Belle Meade

Society pictures or classified advertisements. Please bring back the old editorial style.

Now let’s see if you really want to hear the voices of the “folks”. Print this one… I dare you.

NEEDLESS DEATH TICKS ME OFF!

I am ticked off to learn that 70% of stolen guns come from cars (most of them unlocked) creating a pipeline of death tools for criminals. We see it reported on each day new gun death, often by and against a youth(s).

Sure, it sounds cute to say that if we outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns, and that guns don’t kill people rather people kill people.

The comments in the Ticked Off column do not reflect the views of FW Publishing.

Inside Belmont’s future medical school

BY HANNAH HERNER

Those working to bring Belmont’s future medical school to fruition now have an extra year to do so, and they say they will have plenty to do before welcoming students in the fall of 2024.

Construction workers are currently adding the sixth and final floor at the site of the Thomas F. Frist Jr. College of Medicine, with construction slated to be completed in April 2024.

Across campus, the college’s faculty members sit elbow-to-elbow in cubicles putting together a curriculum for the medical school. The admissions staff is envisioning how they will recruit the ideal student.

They are all gearing up for a site visit in July from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which will decide if the college can move from candidate to preliminary status and start recruiting students. School leaders hope to hear back in October.

Construction is on track

Having an extra year means contractor R.C. Matthews does not have to worry as much about supply shortages, says Chase Trivett, owner of ChaseCo, who has served as Belmont’s owner’s representative on all of the school’s construction projects since 2004.

“Supply chain issues are absolutely a real thing,” Trivett said. “We’re fortunate enough that, because of the overall project scheduling, we’re ordering things a year in advance — sometimes even longer — to battle the supply chain issues. Stuff that would normally take three-to-four months might take six, eight months.”

When completed, the roughly 195,000-square-foot building will blend in with Belmont’s existing Greek revival aesthetic, complete with pillars and Cinderella staircases.

The building will feature a split entry,

with students entering on the first floor on the Wedgewood Avenue side and the second floor on the Acklen Avenue side. The first and second floor will have two tiered learning theaters to accommodate 150 to 200 students as well as a cafe, lobby and smaller classroom spaces. The third floor will house the school’s simulation technology, and the fourth is for patient volunteers and actors. The fifth and sixth floors will house additional offices, including office space for 10 Harry Potter-style “houses,” a common medical school practice.

The faculty and staff are expanding Belmont has 23 faculty and 14 staff for the medical school, plus five on the executive leadership team. The school also has 11 open job listings and is actively hiring. Of those listed on the school’s staff page, the highest number were hired from out of state, while seven came from Belmont, six from Meharry Medical College, three from Vanderbilt University and three from Lipscomb University.

The team of 42 will be led by former longtime Vanderbilt exec Anderson Spickard III, at least through the accreditation process. If the school is granted preliminary status this year, it will then move toward provisional status, which requires that students have completed their first year and can give feedback. Full accreditation cannot come until students graduate from the program.

In November, Belmont announced that it would begin hiring Jewish faculty and staff for the medical school, law school and pharmacy school. Belmont has traditionally only hired Christian professors. The LCME requires that schools have a diverse faculty that is reflective of the student population, explained E. Terrell Washington, assistant

dean for faculty and academic affairs. He described adding Jewish faculty as “one of many ways to live that out.” No word yet on if Belmont will expand to more religions or extend the policy to the rest of the university.

The curriculum will require collaboration

During the July LCME visit, the faculty will present the first 18 months of curriculum. In interviews with the Post, professors described a “startup-style” environment as the group works toward an integrated medical education curriculum, combining basic sciences and clinical care through case studies.

“If I get hired to teach microbiology in another medical school, I am given that ‘this is our syllabus, and this is what the schedule looks like to go and teach,’ but, here we have the opportunity to get together with each other collaborate, build it brick by brick,” said Tanu Rana, associate professor or microbiology and immunology.

Medical school is made up of two years of science classes and two years of clinical rotations. HCA will be the school’s only clinical affiliate for third- and fourth-year students, Washington said.

The curriculum also will combine the “head and heart” said Andrew Michel, associate professor of psychiatry, as well as interprofessional education as part of a collaboration with Belmont’s schools of nursing, pharmacy, occupational therapy and physical therapy.

“We need for them to be academically excellent in terms of medical knowledge, and the intellectual side, the head, but also to be formed with discerning hearts,” Michel said, adding that the goal is to foster “a medicine that knows about tacit wisdom and is trained in the virtues so that it knows how to apply

the science and the medical knowledge toward persons who are suffering and can be aware of their whole life and personhood.”

The ideal student

Even in a town of three medical schools, Belmont should not have an issue with demand. The admissions staff expects upwards of 3,000 applicants for the inaugural class, which will have 50 students. By the third year, the school will work up to 75 students, with 100 students expected in future classes. The enrollment ison par with Vanderbilt, which admitted 96 students in 2021, and Meharry, which sits around 115 students per class.

With a new school, people like Jean Shelton, assistant dean for admissions, can build the admissions and recruitment process around exactly what student they want. She said this process combines metrics, experiences and attributes.

As a private school, Belmont will not have any requirements for balancing in-state and out-of-state students, Shelton said. The school also will not require students to be Christian, though associate dean for student affairs and diversity Karen Lewis said, “we are very secure in our identity as a Christian or Christ-centered university.”

“The most difficult, but the most fun piece for me is the attributes,” Shelton said. “Who are you? What kind of a person are you? Do your morals and values align with ours here at Frist? And is that person going to be a good fit here?”

This story first appeared in our sister publication Nashville Post.

Red Velvet Cake

BY EDIBLE NASHVILLE

This is the cake I started making when I was twelve. It has what I consider the real frosting, a delicate yet rich buttercream. The procedure is a bit finicky. You make a sauce from flour and milk, whisking furiously,

so it doesn’t get lumpy, then chill it. Add gradually to whipped butter and powdered sugar until creamy beautiful consistency. It’s not overly sweet, but a perfect compliment to the cake.

ACROSS

Be an omen of

Reduce

Belabor, with “on”

Follower of Bay or gray

___ setter

Sheepish answer to “Who broke this?”

Sign in a clearance section

“___ soon?”

The duck in “Peter and the Wolf”

Gr unts and groans, e.g.

Countr y with the second-most Portuguese speakers

Stretch

Party people, for short

Peach or plum

Download that might use a freemium model

“A fickle food,” per Emily Dickinson

Modify, as an article

Key word when writing dialogue

Word with due or true

16 PIECES

INGREDIENTS:

CAKE

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

2 tablespoons red food coloring

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease three 8-inch layer pans or two 9-inch layer pans; line bottoms with wax paper.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat together vegetable shortening and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and salt alternately with buttermilk; beat until blended.Add vanilla, beat well.

3. In a small bowl, whisk cocoa and food coloring together with a fork until smooth; add to batter and beat until evenly blended. In same bowl, dissolve baking soda in vinegar and beat into batter. Pour into prepared pans and spread evenly; bake 8-inch layers 20 minutes or

FROSTING

1 1/3 cups 2 percent reduced-fat milk

7 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened

1 1/3 to 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Large-scale corporate union

In the loop

One able to lift 10 to 50 times its body weight

Like flour less cake

Dream hand for a poker player

___ slicker

“Cabin Fever” director Roth

Enthusiastic response to “Wanna come?”

9-inch layers 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on wire racks. Remove cakes from pans, peel off wax paper and cool completely on racks.

4. To prepare frosting, whisk milk and flour until dissolved. Pour into a small saucepan; cook and stir over low heat 2 to 3 minutes or until thick. Cool to room temperature.

5. In a mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy; beat in vanilla. Fill and frost cake.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Edible Nashville. For more recipes and all things local food, follow Edible Nashville on instagram @ediblenashtn and their website ediblenashville.com. And look for their beautiful magazine around town. To subscribe to the magazine that comes out 6x/year, go to ediblenashville.com.

Deceptive movement

“Fudge,” “fie” and “fiddlesticks” are some of the printable ones

T itle holders

Ideal for audiophiles, in brief

“Why are you making such a fuss?” … or a hint to 17-, 36- and 43-Across

Manhattan, on an envelope DOWN

U.K. acting award

Hunter visible at night

Remove condensation from

Conquer a hero?

It can prevent cracking

Snack item sometimes shown in ads next to a glass of milk

Confusion might ensue when they’re crossed

Key for getting out, not in

Metal next to tungsten on the periodic table

Bevy : quails :: parliament : ___

“Now wait just a second!”

“Yeah, sure”

ANSWER TO PUZZLE

Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 9,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/ crosswords ($39.95 a year). Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay. Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/ studentcrosswords.

PUZZLE BY NANCY STARK AND WILL NEDIGER

Multi-talented Mat Britain performs and teaches steel drum classes

BY BRENDA BATEY

PHOTOS BY BRENDA BATEY

“I teach six back-to-back steel band classes on Sundays and I always leave feeling energized, and though my ears may be a bit fatigued, I’m never tired of the sound after a long day of teaching,” Britain said. “I enjoy teaching this instrument because the steel drum is such an inclusive instrument, especially for people with little or no musical background. Once the proper grip and stroke and an acceptable sound are established, a brand-new class of beginners is off and running.

“We are always playing a simple chord progression within the first 10 to 15 minutes of our first class. It is always a real joy to see students’ faces, as the sound they are making emanates from the steel drums. It’s especially gratifying when it’s their first time making music in a band setting.

instrument made from a 55-gallon industrial drum. The instrument was developed in the early-to-mid 1900s, with roots going back much earlier, including the talking drums of West African cultures.

Britain discovered steel pan as a student at Wichita State University in one of the country’s first university-based steel bands and followed his love of pan from the plains of Kansas to the tropical island of Trinidad.

Britain played steel pan solos on several popular tracks for country mega-star Kenny Chesney including “When The Sun Goes Down” and “Shift Work,” as well as on his albums Just Who I Am, Poets & Pirates, Be As You Are (Songs from an Old Blue Chair), and The Road & the Radio.

the BMD has recorded four albums and continues to perform throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Britain also appeared with the Nashville Symphony at Carnegie Hall for the North American premiere of the Charles Ives Universe Symphony, under the baton of Giancarlo Guerrero, music director of the Nashville Symphony.

He has taught at the Taipei International Summer Percussion Camp in Taiwan, The Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Wisconsin, and for the last 20 years at the University of Iowa Percussion Immersion Week.

Mat Britain is a multi-talented Nashvillebased performer, educator, and composer who specializes in steel drums (also called steel pans), percussion, and drum sets.

Britain is an adjunct instructor in music for steel drums at Blair School of Music, where he has taught since 2004.

“There are numerous things I like about playing steel drums, but if I had to choose one it would be the sound of the instrument, especially when it is a full steel band,” said Britain. “Obviously, the sound evokes all things ‘beachy,’ but beyond that, I have always found the sound to be joyful, captivating and energetic.”

In addition, the public can take lessons from him at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Vanderbilt, where he oversees the Osher Steel Band. Britain is the director of the Vanderbilt University Steel Band Program, which comprises college and community steel band students.

“I also really enjoy composing, arranging, and teaching music for the different levels of classes; beginning, intermediate, and advanced. The steel drum (steel pan is the preferred name in Trinidad), can successfully tackle about any musical genre and I like experimenting with this,” Britain said.

“The classes are always required to do a song from the birthplace of the instrument, Trinidad and Tobago, but beyond that we have done everything from Bulgarian and Taiwanese folk songs to jazz, classical, and video game music, and we’ve even learned the entire six-minute version of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody!’

Britain can be heard on everything from movie soundtracks and commercials to hits by country stars, and he was the first percussionist to grace the stage of the Grand Ole Opry with Latin percussion instruments, congas, bongos, and timbales.

Steel pans originated in the tropical islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The modern pan is a chromatically pitched percussion

He has also recorded and shared the stage with numerous Nashville luminaries, including Lee Greenwood, Neal McCoy, Charley Pride, Louise Mandrell, and the Warren Brothers.

Just a few of the jingles and television shows Britain has performed for include: “Live with Regis & Kelly,” “Tony Roma’s” restaurant, “Adventure Island Water Park,” “As The World Turns,” and “Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous.”

Britain has traveled many times to Trinidad to perform with the Amoco/BP Renegades Steel Band at the prestigious Panorama Festival.

As a steel pan performer, Britain leads his band Deep Grooves, and for the last 30-plus years he has worked with marimbist Dan Moore as half of the Britain Moore Duo (BMD).

The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets, making it a wonderful instrument to pair with the melodious steel drums.

The first touring pan and marimba duo,

“It’s really fun to broaden the band and audience members’ perspective on what this great instrument is capable of,” Britain said. “I know I’m doing my job as a composer and arranger when an audience member comes up to me after a concert and says, ‘I didn’t know a steel drum could do that!’

“I’ve been lucky enough to teach all ages and skill levels, from K-12 students, football players (‘First & Ten Steel Band’ can be seen on YouTube), college students, special needs, and I’m especially grateful for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute steel bands, which continue to grow and improve by leaps and bounds.

“Our end-of-the-semester concerts are always a great culmination to our hard work when we get to present our music to family and friends. Whether it’s their first concert or they are seasoned performers, it is always a thrill for me as a teacher to see and feel the pride radiating from the band members after a great performance. It’s very, very rewarding.”

For more information about classes in steel drumming, visit vanderbilt.edu or call 615-585-4786.

Instructor Mat Britain performs on his steel drum.

Students in a steel drum class taught by Mat Britain.

Student Kelley Rice and instructor Mat Britain at a steel drum class.

Orchids in the Cheekwood Mansion

BY BRENDA BATEY PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHEEKWOOD

The fifth annual Orchids in the Mansion celebration will be available for viewing from January 28 to March 5 this year at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens.

The show-stopping floral displays will be presented in conjunction with several noteworthy art exhibitions, music performances, adult education workshops, and tours.

Guests will escape the chilly winter temperatures by visiting Cheekwood and immersing themselves in an abundance of tropical orchid arrangements.

The celebration takes over the historic home, where white and purple Phalaenopsis prevail throughout the displays and emerge from rich layers of tropical foliage. Orchids sweep up the grand staircase in the foyer and lead visitors to the central experience on the loggia, where the florals rise off the floor and suspend from the ceiling in an immersive cloud of blooming orchids.

A variety of gorgeous orchids, including Dendrobiums, Oncidiums, and Cymbidiums, add a diversity of form and texture to the arrangements.

“We are most excited to celebrate some of the architectural features in the mansion by directly engaging the stairs in the foyer with orchid displays,” said Vice President of Gardens and Facilities Peter Grimaldi. “We

explore art interventions through museum exhibitions and the orchid show is truly a botanical intervention in the historic home.”

The show will be accompanied by musical performances and special informative tours about the orchids, and there will be classes on orchid painting, needle felting, repotting, and more.

Orchids in the Mansion tours will be led on February 5 and 19 by Cheekwood Garden Supervisor Shannon Pruitt. She will take visitors through the display and explain how the event came to life from designing the display to putting it together, and the types of orchids chosen to create this year’s “Orchid Takeover.”

“Orchids 101,” will be presented on February 11, and participants will learn about six common types of orchids and the cultural requirements for growing healthy, blooming orchids in the home. Instruction will focus on selecting the right orchid for the right place and cover basic care and maintenance for new and inexperienced orchid growers.

“Painted Still Life: Orchids” is set for February 11. Members of the art class will examine the delicate curves of orchids, from stem to blooms and buds, and create their own still-life compositions.

An orchid re-potting workshop will be

held on February 25 for participants who will learn to properly re-pot orchid plants. They will hear about the most common components of potting media and follow a step-by-step process for repotting orchids in the hands-on workshop. Participants will be provided with one Phalaenopsis to re-pot themselves during the class and take home.

“Needle-Felted Phalaenopsis” will be presented by local textile artist Jennifer Fleischer on February 25 for an afternoon of needle-felting to create an everlasting orchid. Those on hand will learn the basics of needle felting and use the components created to make their own felted Phalaenopsis.

In addition, each Saturday during Orchids in the Mansion, piano performances by Kaylina Madison Crawley and Chris Walters will take place in the drawing room from noon to 2 p.m., bringing the historic period room to life.

Also opening on January 28 will be two art exhibitions in the galleries in the Cheekwood Mansion.

“Spanning the Atlantic: The Arts and Crafts Movement in America” examines the international arts and crafts movement, and features more than 100 objects of fine art, furniture, decorative arts, and textiles by some of the most talented American craftspeople of the early 20th century.

The second art exhibition is “The Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Ruralism and Regionalism in American Art.”

In early 20th-century America, regionalist art celebrated the land with emotion-laden landscape scenes while advocating for ruralism (country living and values) over urbanism and city living. Prints by Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry are featured among 20 works that examine the compositions and contexts of agrarian imagery produced in America between 1920 and 1950.

The Cheekwood Winter Concert Series also begins on January 28 and Grammywinning players will perform big band jazz, Brazilian grooves and classical music in Botanic Hall.

A trio of concerts, all beginning at 7 p.m., will include: Nashville Jazz Orchestra’s Big Band on Jan. 28; Tudo Bem, which showcases interpretations of Brazilian music will be on Feb. 10; and on Feb. 23 contemporary classical music ensemble “Intersection” will perform with choreography by the Ensworth School of Dance.

Visit cheekwood.org for more information about all these programs.

Guests enjoy strolling through the floral displays.

Gorgeous orchids abound in the loggia of the Cheekwood Mansion.

A variety of orchids in large containers complement additional orchids and other plants in hanging baskets.

Five free and cheap family things to do in middle Tennessee

BY AMANDA HAGGARD

Rarely are the free and cheap events in town focused on the teens, but this week our list of family-friendly endeavors that don’t break the bank includes two: Southern Word, a nonprofit that focuses on literacy and creative writing for young people, is hosting a weekly event for teens interested in music production. The Nashville Public Library has a week of events for teens called Celebrate Pride in January as part of its Nashville Reads series.

If you’re looking to get the whole family

out, Owl Hill Sanctuary has a decently priced Family Geocaching Day that, weather permitting, could be the perfect way to spend a Saturday. And if you just want to keep it simple this week, head out for a short storytime about nature at Shelby Bottoms or go watch a movie appropriate for all the members of your family in Smyrna.

As part of our series on free and cheap things to do with the family, here is our weekly roundup of places to spend time together over the next week:

JUNE-UARY: NASHVILLE READS TEEN PRIDE CELEBRATION

From Jan 23-27 the Nashville Public Library is hosting Celebrate Pride in January to go along with its Nashville Reads selection All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson. There are several events slated for the week, including button-making and a pride button scavenger hunt on Jan. 24, a portrait collage event on Jan. 25, a tote bag and shirt-making gathering on Jan. 26, and a film screening on Jan. 27.

SOUTHERN WORD: MOVING THE MUSIC FORWARD

On Jan. 26 at the Bordeaux Branch of the Nashville Public Library, Southern Word will begin a weekly workshop on music production. The workshop happens every Thursday. “You bring the lyrics and hopefully a melody. A Southern Word music production mentor will work with you to figure out the chords, the instrumentation, and the structure to bring your song to life,” Southern Word says in its event description The workshop will include tutorials on Logic, Garageband and Bandlab. This one is for teens aged 12-18 and involves collaboration with other young adults.

FAMILY GEOCACHING DAY

At Owl’s Hill Sanctuary, they’re hosting a daylong geocaching event for the family. For a small cost, your intrepid crew can bring your own GPS or smartphone (with Google Maps installed) for a day of hiking and searching. The course is set up to be family-friendly, but also has a couple more challenging caches for more advanced folks. Attendees can also bring small trinkets to add to cache sites in the area.

FAMILY MOVIE

At the Smyrna Public Library in Rutherford County on Jan. 28, they’ll be screening a family-friendly movie at 2 p.m. The title isn’t listed, but a photo of the movie “Home” accompanies the announcement.

NATURE STORY AND SONG

On Feb. 1 at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, staff and volunteers will host a Nature Story and Song for families at 10 a.m. They’ll read a nature-themed book, bring out their educational snake named “Maize,” kids will have a chance to learn a song to get their wiggles out, and a few puppet characters will be on hand as well.

Frist Art Museum Arts Fest Weekend

BY BRENDA BATEY PHOTOS COURTESY OF FRIST ART MUSEUM

The Frist Arts Museum will host an inaugural Arts Fest Weekend to celebrates contemporary art with artist talks and tours, art-making activities, and music on Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, Feb. 5.

The weekend offerings also will include food trucks, tabletop games in the lobby, a photo booth, and more.

The event marks the first time in the Frist’s history that the three primary galleries are featuring contemporary art.

“Jeffrey Gibson:The Body Electric” and “Otobong Nkanga: Gently Basking in Debris” open Friday, February 3. The exhibition “Matthew Ritchie: A Garden in the Flood” will be on view through March 5.

During the weekend, guests will have the opportunity to join Gibson, Nkanga, and Ritchie for a group conversation and take docent-led gallery tours. There also will be artmaking activities in the studios and the Martin Art Quest Gallery, a local artist market, a

guided movement program with the Nashville Ballet, and a “Sip and Sketch” activity.

The Frist is partnering with WNXP 91.1 to provide music for the weekend, including DJ sets in the auditorium.

“We are thrilled to work with established and new partners to kick off these new incredible exhibitions in a fun, dynamic way,” says Interpretation Director Meagan Rust. “As we did with our old Frist Fridays and Family Festival events, we love connecting the creative dots in our community and hosting cross-discipline collaborations.”

“This new Frist Arts Fest series format will allow us to offer something for everyone and spread it out over a weekend, so guests can come and go as their schedule allows,” Rust said.

On Sat., Feb. 4 at 11 a.m. artists Gibson, Nkanga, and Ritchie will participate in a conversation moderated by Frist Art Museum Executive Director and

CEO Seth Feman.

“Jeffrey Gibson: The Body Electric” is a major exhibition devoted to one of today’s leading artists whose multidisciplinary practice combines aspects of traditional indigenous art and culture with a modernist visual vocabulary.

Born in Colorado in 1972, Gibson is of Cherokee heritage and a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw. His vibrant work, which is represented in more than 20 permanent collections across the United States, is a call for indigenous empowerment, as well as queer visibility and environmental sustainability. The exhibit includes Gibson’s recent paintings, sculpture, video, and installations, along with a large site-specific mural “The Land is Speaking - Are you Listening?”

The exhibition’s title is inspired by a song written for the 1980 musical “Fame,” which itself drew from Walt Whitman’s poem “I Sing the Body Electric” from his 1855 collection “Leaves of Grass. “

The lyrics reverently acknowledge everyone’s place in the natural world, while honoring the universality of endings and beginnings.

“Nkanga: Gently Basking in Debris” consists of Nigerian Belgian artist Otobong Nkanga’s tapestries, drawings, videos, sculptures, and performances that feature narratives of wounding and healing, making metaphorical links between the landscape and the traumatized human body.

Nkanga’s work conveys the necessity of acknowledging the violence caused by exploiting natural and human resources if we are to overcome the damaging legacy of extraction under colonialism and global capitalism.

“Matthew Ritchie: A Garden in the Flood” invites viewers to experience the richness and complexity of the world by connecting such fields as philosophy and mythology, epic poetry and music, history, and physics.

Interweaving dualities of harmony and chaos, the exhibition offers a meditation on art’s capacity to help overcome social fragmentation and to be a connective tissue that is healing and beautiful.

“A Garden in the Flood” features dramatic paintings, an architectural structure, and hallucinatory animations, some made through artificial intelligence. At its heart is a new video work with a sound bed specially commissioned from renowned composer Hanna Benn in collaboration with the Grammy Award–winning Fisk Jubilee Singers and their late music director, Paul T. Kwami.

Admission to Frist Arts Fest will be free for Frist members and guests ages 18 and younger. For all other guests, the regular $15 adult admission will apply on Saturday; Saturday attendees can return on Sunday for only $5.

All normal discounts are suspended during the weekend. For a full schedule of events, visit FristArtMuseum.org/event/ frist-arts-fest/.

Jeffrey Gibson’s “The Land is Speaking, Are You Listening”

A couple in the Matthew Ritchie painting room enjoys viewing his art.

Otobong Nkanga’s “Revelations”

Matthew Ritchie’s “The Eighth Sea”

SOCIAL

Owl’s Hill Marshmallow Hike

BY BRENDA BATEY PHOTOS BY BRENDA BATEY

Owl’s Hill Nature Sanctuary’s Executive Director Susan Duvenhage and numerous volunteers welcomed guests for the Marshmallow Hike on a cold, crisp day.

Everyone broke up into several smaller groups and went strolling through the sanctuary’s winter woods and later enjoyed hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Children had a wonderful time roasting marshmallows in the fireplace in the rustic pavilion on the beautiful property.

Owl’s Hill’s mission is to provide a sanctuary for nature that inspires exploration and lifelong environmental conservation. The nature sanctuary now encompasses over 300-acres and is a protected home for more than 2,000 species of native flora and fauna that thrive in the hills, forests, creek, ponds and meadows.

Visitors of all ages love to explore the great outdoors, learn about native Tennessee wildlife and connect with nature.

Contributions to Owl’s Hill help the organization:

• Protect and restore fragile plant and wildlife habitats

• Share the wonderment of nature with thousands of school children, teachers, scouts, and families each year

• Maintain and improve the nature trails

• Provide low-cost field trip programming

• Fill the feeding stations around the visitor center

• Provide and maintain bluebird nest boxes as part of an ongoing national research program

• Offer year-round public programming for visitors of all ages

• Provide food and care for the non-releasable owls and other wildlife ambassadors

• Help eradicate invasive plant species

The history of Owl’s Hill began in 1959 when Huldah Cheek Sharp sold Cheekwood, her childhood home, to Nashville to become a public garden and fine arts center.

She and her husband, Walter Sharp, purchased a 140-acre farm and began constructing the scenic stone walls still on the property today. At the same time they were building their new home on the side of a hill overlooking their newly purchased land.

Shortly after completion, the Sharps were outside one night and could hear a Great Horned Owl calling from the ridge. They remarked that they must have built their home on the owl’s hill and began calling their property Owl’s Hill Farm.

Huldah Sharp placed restrictive covenants on the property and sold it to the University of Tennessee Nashville in 1972 to be used for research and to be maintained as a nature preserve. In 1983 UT Nashville conveyed the property to then Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum of Art.

In 1988, Huldah Sharp’s dream of a nature sanctuary started down the long road to reality when Cheekwood hired a full time naturalist to oversee the creation of a wildlife habitat preserve, establish education programming, undertake conservation projects, correct erosion problems and make the 120-acre site available for research.

The new facility was christened Owl’s Hill Nature Center and the caretaker’s cottage, that had originally been a hay barn, was turned into a visitor center.

In 1991 a Boy Scout went to Owl’s Hill in search of an Eagle Service Project. His project became removing wire fencing from a scenic wooded area and the restoration had begun. Since then, more than 125 Eagle Service Projects have helped transform the neglected, overgrown cattle farm into a vibrant wildlife sanctuary.

In the spring of 2007, the board of trustees of Cheekwood voted to turn over all Owl’s Hill assets to a newly created nonprofit organization. Owl’s Hill Nature Sanctuary became a completely independent non-profit in 2007.

For more information about Owl’s Hill’s numerous programs, visit owlshill.org.

Phillip, Griffin, Grace, Michelle, and Graham Jelniker

Susan Duvenhage, Tracy Stadnick, and Martha Shirley

Violet Boon, Freddie O’Connell, Kristen Pulkkinen, and Whitney and Halley Boon

Karen Cressman and Kristianna Zack

Karen, Laurel, Lelah, and Patrick Neuman

SOCIAL

Mandy Kuehne, Ashley Purdy, Emily Vallor, and Kat Kinntz

Kate Hartley, Benjamin Stewart, Andy Holt, and Tracey Stadnick

Julie Eperjesi, Laura Smith, and Caliopi Anderson

Kristina Norris and Laura Harris

Mara Bargeron, and Noah and Kevin Turner

Jane and Sam Roach roast a marshmallow in the pavilion fireplace.

SOCIAL

Ming Wang Film Preview Event

BY BRENDA BATEY

PHOTOS BY BRENDA BATEY

Eye surgeon Dr. Ming Wang, founder of the Wang Vision Institute, held an event at the Steinway Piano Gallery where guests could view a preview of the film about his life, “Sight.”

Adapted from his autobiography, the biopic is about Wang as a pioneering medical entrepreneur, with the lead portrayed by actor Terry Chen. Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning Greg Kinnear plays a friend and mentor to Wang.

The story chronicles Wang’s rise from poverty and violence growing up in 1960s rural China, to his migration to the U.S. It shows his struggles with racial discrimination and rise to become a world-class surgeon, who would design new technology to help restore sight to millions.

Guests at the party enjoyed numerous types of Papa John’s pizza, as well as several kinds of wine.

Wang, a Harvard and MIT graduate with MD and PhD degrees, is one of the few laser eye surgeons in the world today who hold a doctorate degree in laser physics.

Amniotic membrane contact lens, invented by Wang and for which he holds two U.S. patents, has been used by tens

of thousands of eye doctors in nearly every nation in the world, and millions of patients have had their eyesight restored with the lens.

Wang has been involved in numerous charitable endeavors through the years and he established the Wang Foundation for Sight Restoration. It has helped patients from more than 40 states in the U.S. and 55 countries, with all sight restoration surgeries performed free-of-charge.

He is co-founder of the non-profit Common Ground Network, which teaches individuals and organizations steps to enable them to be more successful in finding common ground and solutions in today’s polarized world.

In addition, Wang has received numerous awards including the Honor Award of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Association of Chinese American Physicians, an honorary doctorate degree from Trevecca Nazarene University, NPR’s Philanthropist of the Year Award, and Kiwanis Nashvillian of the Year Award for his lifetime dedication to helping blind orphan children from around the world.

Host Ming Wang and Ella Morrissey

Ethan Jean, Laura McCraine, Sean Li, and Walter Zhao

Carlos Enrique on the guitar with Ming Wang, who plays the Chinese violin called an erhu.

Teresa and Richard White, and Pamela Evans

Anthony and Nonye Ejiofor

Raymonda Jaggers and Robert Stringfellow Bethany Cole and Esther Ayoade

SOCIAL

Lucy Lan serves pizza.

Wendy and Bill Crampton

Stephen Skelton, Nancy Russell, and Ming Wang

Selina and Christian Rogers

Trish and James Mosley Peter Qin pours wine for the guests.

LeAnne Peters and Gloria Kleve

Nick Allen and Allen Snow

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