Metro Arts’ vision is that every Nashvillian should have access to a creative life, and few places are more accessible than our city’s public libraries.

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The Lending Library, a partnership with Nashville Public Library, began in 2020 as a direct response to Nashville artists dealing with impacts of the March 3 tornado and COVID-19 outbreak. In the wake of these two major disruptions in the life and ecosystem of Nashville artists, Metro Arts devised a plan to provide direct, immediate financial support to artists and create a novel way for the greater Nashville community to access these artists and their work.

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Metro Arts purchased sixty works of visual art from local artists and launched the Lending Library, a program which allows Nashville library card holders to browse and check out works of art in 3-month blocks of time.

Sixty original artworks from Nashville-area artists are available for anyone with a Nashville Public Library card to check out at NPL’s Madison and Southeast branches. Learn more on the Nashville Public Library website.

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View the overview video about the Metro Arts Lending Library below, and watch videos featuring individual artists on our YouTube channel! 

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