As District 32 Councilwoman, Nashville resident Joy Styles has a passion for bettering the community that got her elected in 2019 and has carried her into an unopposed run for her second term this August.
She has accomplished a lot during her time as a council member, and one of her most recent achievements will greatly impact an industry Music City prides itself on: the arts. In 2022 Styles sponsored the legislation to create the Nashville Music, Film, and Entertainment Commission, which passed this April. It was a venture that was met with overwhelming excitement, and even some surprise that Nashville did not already have a commission in place. Styles chatted with us about bringing the commission to fruition, her hopes for its future, and the importance of deepening the connection between Nashville and our extraordinary creative community.
Career Moves: I have lived in Nashville for 17 years. Before I moved to Nashville, I was an actress in New York performing in Off-Broadway plays and musicals, commercials, film, and television. I was also signed to SESAC for songwriting. I have always been, and still am, an artist at heart. I moved here to pursue a career in country music and had a deal through 764 Records under Sony Red back in 2014, but not too long after getting my deal I ended up leaving the business. It was after I left the business that I decided to pursue a place in public service. To be honest, I really fell into running for a council seat by happenstance. I built my house in 2017, and I decided that since I had placed roots in my neighborhood, I needed to join the homeowners association to really know what was happening in my community. About a year after joining, I became the president, and I realized that my neighborhood and my district had the same needs. We needed consistent leadership, more accountability, transparency, and vision. I never had political aspirations, I just wanted to improve my community.
Duty Calls: As a council member my biggest responsibility is constituent services, such as requesting pothole repairs and making sure that your trash is collected. But the most important responsibilities of constituent services are communication and listening to constituent needs. Returning phone calls and emails are critical to doing a good job, as are hosting regular community meetings to inform residents about what is happening in their district. Your constituents elected you as their representative and expect to hear from you. My next responsibility is for voting on and amending, if needed, the city’s annual budget of $3.2 billion. These funds pay for all our metro departments including Metro Nashville Public Schools. We also handle all the zoning requests in our districts, create local laws, and we can also create new metro departments as well as metro boards and commissions.
Bridging the Gap: I first came to Nashville to do music. It was during my time as a performer that I saw how disconnected the city was from our creative class. Yes, we are known for country music and being the capital of songwriting, but no one was engaging artists about the benefits of the arts to the city besides tourism. It surprised me coming from New York, where there were so many projects occurring at once, across multiple industries with unwavering support and investment from the city. I knew that process needed to change, but at the time did not know how to implement a system. Once I decided to run, I knew that addressing this concern would be a priority. In fact, if it had not been for the pandemic, I would have proposed this commission and office much sooner. This is a need that has been long overdue to be fulfilled. It is a great feeling when people express their excitement that we finally have an office that will address the gaps that we have in terms of an easy permit process, or directory for crew and services, just to name a few. I spent a year and a half researching our peer cities to see how they were addressing their entertainment needs and speaking with community members. I spoke with offices in Memphis, Austin, New Orleans, Savannah, Seattle, and Tulsa, to name a few. I knew with all the new industries that were coming to town we needed to invest in all of them, not just one. So, I approached Mayor Cooper and his staff about the idea of an entertainment office and they supported it. He announced its creation during his 2022 State of Metro Address. After the announcement, I filed the legislation to create the commission, as several other cities had commissions as well as offices. Most importantly, I knew the office needed to be autonomous from the mayor’s office. Consistency in leadership had plagued attempts in the past due to administrative change.
Commission Composition: The commission has 15 members that are eligible to vote and four that are ex-officio. We appointed the inaugural commission on June 20 and selected members of the music, film, and television communities to begin the work. The commission also has an internal council specifically dedicated to address diversity, equity, and inclusion. Historically, diversity has not been addressed within the creative communities in Nashville and this commission is going to change that. I am very proud of this component. Multiple voices and perspectives will finally be at the table in order to make us an even stronger force nationally in the pursuit of promoting Nashville for new projects. There is a distribution of industry representation to allow for representation that does not favor any one industry. We have been and always will be Music City, but we need to give attention to all of our creative industries. We are better when we all work together. The commission has been charged with not only laying the foundation for the commission’s objectives through the creation of the mission, vision, and by-laws, but is also tasked with hiring the Executive Director for the new Nashville Office of Music, Film, and Entertainment. While this new office is housed under the mayor, it will be under the direction of the commission, so that it is not disrupted by changing administrations every four to eight years. There will be consistency.
Lasting Impact: My biggest hope is that we finally build a sustainable bridge between the city and our creative community. We make a great deal of revenue from the arts, but never had a means of genuine investment and productive communication. This new office and commission demonstrate a new commitment and respect from the city for all our creative communities. I believe that we will see the fruit of these entities very quickly once they get going, and that we will see new entertainment companies wanting to invest in Nashville through music, film, television, theatre, fashion, and more. We need to create opportunities for people to work in Nashville and not have to travel out of town for work. That time is now. Support the arts! They are our lifeblood. Every song that you play or movie that you watch creates a memory that stays with you forever.