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Nashville may be broadly known as the Country Music Capital of the World, but there’s more to Music City than honky tonks and good tunes.
As a center for flourishing design culture and an industry that thrives on creativity, Nashville’s design talent and scene are palpable. After a year of virtual events, Nashville Design Week (November 1-5, 2021) is back, live and in person, with a lineup full of creativity and collaboration. With five days of programming and a calendar that consists of eighteen curated, interdisciplinary programs and events, the week encourages creatives to engage design enthusiasts from Middle Tennessee and beyond. Founded in 2018 by Nashville’s design community, Nashville Design Week serves as a platform to help strengthen the city’s design culture and impact.
The week consists of workshops, lectures, panels, and tours citywide, each of which showcases designers across many industries, from architecture and interiors to graphic, industrial, and fashion design.
“We’re all just really excited about the opportunity for collaboration of different design industries in Nashville,” says Kate O’Neil, co- founder and director of partnerships. “We’ve got such a strong creative presence [here], but there’s not a lot of opportunity for people to all be in the same room together who do such different things. We are excited to bring that to the table.”
One of the guiding goals for Nashville Design Week is to establish Nashville as a design city, globally. “We want to help strengthen and raise awareness about designers’ impact in the city and beyond. I think on the one hand, Design Week is truly hyperlocal— it’s all about connection, unity, and collaboration, and getting together and celebrating the wonderful work and people that are here, but at the same time, Nashville has a unique moment right now where a lot of eyes are on the city,” says O’Neil. “We would love to help establish that [it] has more to it than just Broadway and music. There’s really a thriving design culture here.”
This year’s Design Week follows a hybrid schedule, with a mix of both in-person and virtual events. The hybrid events will have a limited, in-person, and live studio audience capability, where some attendees can join in person, but the entire panel will broadcast live to virtual attendees who still want to tune in at home. Each program will follow the theme of transition and the opportunities that exist in a time of change.
“This year, we are really exploring the idea of transition and addressing what has happened over the past year,” O’Neil says. “We look at what continue to be challenges that we’re facing into this year and what we’re kind of accepting as the new normal. But what does that mean? We are all in this process of working through what our current situation is and how we’re moving from here to there.”
Programs vary in format and include designer round robins, mentorship huddles, panel discussions and more, with topics like ‘Art as Social Justice,’ ‘Museum Collections Through the Lens of Design,’ and ‘The Digital Transformation of Art and Fashion.’ “Personally, I’m super excited about ‘Defining Nashville’s Culinary Arts Impact,’ hosted by Rachel Ebio,” O’Neil says.
“We have tried in the past to really loop in chefs and culinary arts into the conversation, but to have an event that’s totally dedicated to what’s happening in the culinary scene and connect that with other creative avenues through collaboration is so exciting, and so I’m really happy to see that as a focus this year.”
Registration is required to attend all events, and tickets range from free to $25 per event. All in-person attendees must present either proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test dated within seventy-two hours of the event.