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Reappointment of Campbell West to Metro Arts Commission

This discussion topic was requested by Council Member Emily Benedict regarding the reappointment of Campbell West to the Metropolitan Arts Commission.

From CM Benedict:


Colleagues,


The Mayor’s office has nominated Campbell West to be reappointed to the Arts Commission. Ms. West is a District 7 resident, and has been very involved in the community, especially Nashville’s art community. 

Ms. West is the current Chair of the Commission, as confirmed unanimously by her fellow Commissioners. She is the longest serving member of the Arts Commission. She has institutional knowledge that the new members have found beneficial, all of whom have been on the Commission for less than two years. While we have, importantly, changed the structure and membership of this Commission, having someone on the Commission who helped create the needed change has been to artists’ benefit, especially smaller art organizations and artists directly. 

We are receiving emails of opposition to her reappointment. For that reason, I wanted to share information with you that I have gathered from Arts Commission Interim Director Ashley Bachelder, as well as my own take on her work. The points raised in those form emails fall under a couple of categories: 1) either patently false or misleading, and 2) decisions made by the entire Commission, not made solely by Ms. West.

I encourage you to watch her interview with the Rules Committee from the December 16 meeting which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/live/AR-oRHBKkgQ?si=vrqp34dTnfwd_fxK&t=2194

On to the content of the emails of opposition we have received:

  1. She is the last defunder from August 2023 on the Arts Commission; Patently false. This has been discussed at length and resolved in the 2.5 years since 2023, but of note, Campbell West was not even present at the August 2023 meeting.
  2. She seconded Tim Jester’s motion in April 2024 to fire Daniel Singh while he was on FMLA; Misleading. As we know, seconding is a matter of procedure for deliberating. All of us frequently second a motion for discussion, and then vote against the agenda item. However, I do not believe this motion was even voted on at that meeting; but discussing personnel issues is not appropriate nor relevant to this reappointment.

  3. She supported the removal of an equity worker in June 2024, resulting in a department without a leader and no grants coming out on time in FY25; Misleading. HR decisions are made by the entire Commission. Ms. West was not Chair during the period of extended delays where no grant related activities occurred from March to November 2024. Further, when she became Chair in November 2024, things began happening and steps were taken that resulted in the grant process moving again. 

  4. She believed Metro Legal and Metro Finance’s definitions that “Thrive is illegal,” and so approved mandatory fiscal sponsorship, despite public outcry and 108 artists signing against the policy in December 2024; Misleading. This was a unanimous Commission decision. It has been approved twice now, and twice by the Council.
  5. She denied local artists’ appeals for the debacle that was FY25; Patently false. Grants were approved by full Commission. The operational breakdown and delays of the FY25 cycle have been discussed at length and no single Commissioner is responsible for them.  

  6. She allowed massive changes to Thrive ONLY (not to General Operating) in summer 2025, ignoring community feedback; Patently false. All fiscal work was unanimously approved by Commission twice, and also approved by Council twice.

  7. She supported defunding 73 eligible Thrive artists in order to fund art monopolies; Patently false. The Commission (including Chair West) has allocated the highest percentage of the total grant budget to the Thrive program for two cycles in a row, and they are funding 86 Thrive projects this cycle.

  8. She is complicit in obscuring meetings that affect the community, with the sudden stop of live broadcasts and accurate meeting agendas; Patently false. The Commission meetings are broadcast and recorded. Metro ITS and MNN discontinued streaming of committee meetings months ago for all departments’ committee meetings. The Arts Commission did not request this change, and Ms. West clearly had no part in MNN’s systemwide change.

  9. She supported the dissolution of CARE (Committee on Anti-Racism and Equity) against public outcry; Misleading. This was a unanimous Commission decision.

  10. She has not been able to increase Metro Arts’ funding budget in two fiscal years due to inequitable practices. Misleading. Funding is not a function of the Chair of the Commission, but rather the function of the Council’s budget ordinance, therefore this is not relevant and not attributable to a Commissioner.

One other item mentioned is that a complaint has been filed against Metro Arts. In the December MHRC Commission meeting, Director Tucker stated that they received an inquiry from the Arts Equity group, and went on to tell the Commissioners there is nothing for them to review, also noting that “95% of complaints are not actually complaints.” I’d encourage you to engage with Director Tucker for any questions regarding this.

Sometimes appointments to Boards and Commissions are met with opposition. Sometimes that is clearer than others. I hope this information provides clarity to her service and reasons for reappointment consideration.