Statements

Mission

Music Neighbors advocates for the diversification, connectedness, and sustainability of Nashville's music communities.

We help musicians sustain their artistries through our 501(c)(3) nonprofit's media production services and artist-focused programming which range from funding studio recording sessions to providing a platform for artists to discuss how they utilize music to self-heal and enrich our city's culture

Background

Since 2015 our nonprofit has focused on providing high-quality media content to Nashville-based music artists. Over the last few years, we have expanded our efforts to advocate for the expansion, diversification, and connectedness of Nashville's existing music communities by helping musicians sustain their artistries through our services. We aim to connect people to more Nashville music artists of all genres, as the power of music is not restricted by societal boundaries and has the capability of building bridges between different cultures and demographics of people.

From it's initial iteration during our time in college, Music Neighbors was built off the passion we have for live music; Jason's formed after losing his father when he was a teenager and finding solace in playing guitar and attending concerts, and Chelsea's came from the communal aspect provided by over a decade spent in choir and other music programs throughout grade school.

In 2016, Jason and his wife Chelsea Garriott, originally funded the organization by refinancing their home to take out the equity in it due to rising property values in Nashville. They saw this as an opportunity to reinvest this money back into the community and started Music Neighbors. They took that money to build our social networking and music discovery website for the community. They also used money from the refinance to purchase audio and video equipment to produce our live music videos and concert photography. Any money that was generated, was reinvested back into the nonprofit to make organizational improvements, curate live events, purchase equipment, or was used for marketing and promotion of content we produce, like our live music performance videos.

As of fall 2022, Chelsea stepped in full time as the organizations Operations Director and has been working diligently to grow revenue and further their impact for the musicians of Nashville.

Impact

Since our founding, we've worked tirelessly to ensure the quality of the media we produce matches the quality of the artistry we are representing. We've helped dozens of artists record in professional studios while having the experience filmed by our team, filmed even more artists performing in donated spaces around the city, hosted live music events, written a multitude of single and album reviews, taken photos of musicians at a multitude of local shows, and captured stories of how musicians utilize their gift to impact their communities and grow themselves.

We've increasingly added more value to the services we provide year after year by upgrading our gear we use to capture performances as well as our programming and community outreach. We realize that the larger we are able to grow our audience the larger an impact will be able to make on the artists we support and therefore have made it a mission to focus our efforts on this growth in the coming years. By working with artists from a variety of different music communities in Nashville as well as supporting events from an array of communities being hosted at a range of different spaces we've been able to grow our audience and expand our network.

Needs

Our most pressing issue is financial sustainability to cover operational costs of our core programs. We also need help raising funds to expand our programs to make a bigger impact in Nashville, TN. We also need funding to increase our marketing capacity, content production output, and to continue building upon our current programs.

CEO Statement

Music Neighbors is filling several voids that exist in Nashville.

The first void is smaller, independent music artists don't have access to adequate resources to record and distribute their music to more people. With the rising cost of living in Nashville, most artists are struggling to record their music professionally at a studio. Most don't have adequate funding to promote and share their music with people in the community. In today's market, you need content to promote your music, such as live music videos, single review articles, concert photos, etc.

The second void is the underrepresentation of certain music genres and people of color in the community by local media outlets. For example, hip-hop artists have a much harder time getting media coverage than a rock band would or an up-and-coming country artist.

The third void is a lack of diversity and inclusivity at live music events. Most concerts are centered around similar genres of music. For example, a normal bill consists of a rock band, and a few Americana artists. However, you don't see a Rumba Band, Jazz band, Rock Band, and a Bluegrass artist on the same bill. There's not enough live events that showcase an array of musical styles, especially from underrepresented communities such as African American and Hispanic communities.

The fourth void, is a lack of funding for music education programs within Metro Nashville.

Board Chair Statement

We are committed to making 2023 the biggest year yet for Music Neighbors and will continue to assist in building out the marketing plan as well as evaluating the ongoing and new projects at all of our board meetings. As well, we are committed in helping to organize and host more live events throughout the year.

We realize all of the good that can come from making Music Neighbors a successful organization and all of the positive impact in can have on Nashville's music community. Therefore, we are ready and willing to give all of our focus and energy to ensure this year is as successful as possible.

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Arts, Culture & Humanities  - Music
Secondary Category:	-
Tertiary Category:	-

Areas Served

TN - Davidson