Okay, I’m ready to talk about Metro Arts. Specifically, the treatment of women of color, (particularly, Black women), the integrity of Director Daniel Phoenix Singh, his pattern of shifting blame. And how the treatment of women of color has contributed to the chaos at Metro Arts.
Thinking about Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis, Shonda Rhimes and so SO many other brilliant Black women that continue to have their brilliance diminished and their contributions dismissed, I made up my mind to tell the truth as I see it…
How Can Metro Arts Leadership Blame Skylar Peterson?
In October, I went to a Commission meeting to hear a long overdue update on the Arthur Avenue lighting project. Towards the end of the meeting, Director Singh mentioned that Metro Arts is “losing Sklyar Peterson, because she has been at the top of her grade for five years…due to hiring freezes, no raises, etc. and no one moved her up.”
And my spidey senses went up.
While I don’t know Skylar well, I’ve always had positive and responsive interactions with her. And I couldn’t understand why her contributions to Metro Arts were being diminished to dissatisfaction with management at an open Commission meeting?
Sidenote: I’ve spent hundreds of hours trying to advance the Arthur Avenue lighting project. So, I know more about Metro Arts than I care to.
The more I thought about it, the more I was outraged. Director Singh diminished Skylar’s contributions, yet failed to share with the Commission that her direct supervisor, Ian Myers Director of Finance + Operations, has been allowed to work remotely from Washington State for nearly a year. I have asked Director Singh twice how long Ian has been working from Washington, but both times he has declined to respond.
And I refused to let Director Singh’s statement go unchecked.
So, I wrote to the Mayor.
Then, I wrote the Metro Arts Commissioners and the Metro Human Relations Commissions.
And I showed up to the November Metro Arts Commission meeting to make a public comment.
But by November, things were heating up at Metro Arts. Because a complaint was filed regarding discriminatory grants funding practices and a whole bunch of people hadn’t gotten their promised funding.
Why Are Grants Such A Hot Mess?
I’m not gonna spend too much time talking about that, because Nashville Banner does a good job of laying out the issues. I, particulary, appreciated the nuanced and brave perspective of artist Elisheba Mrozik.
However, I will say that artists and organizations got paid on time when Janine Christiano (and before her, Laurel Fisher) were running the grant program. But, Janine was fired (by Ian Myers and with the support of then Metro Arts Chair, Jim Schmidt) for trying to hold Metro Arts accountable for its stated values of equity. And Laurel was pushed out of Metro Arts for supporting Black women that were mistreated.
So, here we be.
Artists and arts organizations spending our scarce creative energy trying to swim in the toxic waters of the Metro Arts ecosystem again.
How Can Metro Arts Leadership Blame Skylar Peterson and Chair Ellen Angelico?
In response to the chaos and public outcry, Chair Ellen Angelico special-called an Executive Committee Meeting. At the November meeting, Chair Angelico raised two issues regarding Metro Arts: operational dysfunction & collaboration with other departments.
Chair Angelico gave several examples about
- delays in grant funding
- HR paperwork for new hires not being filed
- and Director Singh’s slow responses to other Metro departments
Director Daniel Singh asked Finance Director Ian Myers (working remotely from Washington State) to respond to questions about grant delays and HR paperwork. At first, Myers said there were no delays in HR processes.
He later admitted that there were delays due to his subordinate, Skylar Peterson, going part-time. So, he re–assigned the work to other people…while he worked from Washington State.
Sidenote: I asked Metro HR why a civil service employee was allowed to work from Washington State. They didn’t have an answer other than Director Singh allowed it.
Watching the video, I was struck that two men are sitting there blaming a Black woman subordinate for MANY of the failures of the Department. I was also aghast by the gaslighting and blame that Director Singh placed on Chair Angelico.
Rather than respond to the two issues regarding: operational dysfunction and collaboration with other departments. Towards the middle of the meeting Director Singh says something like
“I know being chair is new for you and causing you anxiety. But you can ask Jim for help or maybe get coaching…I have suggestions about the agenda, but you didn’t listen to me…And you have new ideas every week. Your anxiety is trickling down to the staff and I have to help manage it.”
Thankfully, two people spoke up to defend Chair Angelico.
How Can Metro Arts Leadership Blame Skylar Peterson, Chair Angelico and Vivian Foxx?
Mid November, I got wind that Director Singh had initiated termination procedures against Office Support Specialist, Vivian Foxx. But Vivian Foxx started the month AFTER Director Singh and her direct supervisor, Ian Myers, was working from Washington State. And I couldn’t let that go unchecked either.
So, I wrote Director Singh a letter. He wrote back.
I’m still waiting to hear back on the FOIA request I submitted on December 6th.
Thankfully, Metro Human Resources and Civil Service stepped in to protect Vivian and she still has her job. Guess who told me? Alan Fey. I confirmed that Vivian is still employed with Human Resources.
Sidenote: Alan Fey spoke in support of Janine Christiano at her disciplinary hearing. He also started the petition to remove Jim Schmidt as Chair of Metro Arts and remove Ian Myers as Interim Executive Director in 2022. In the petition, he noted Metro Arts failures to live out their values of equity and its pattern of intimidation and discrimination. But, ultimately, Janine was terminated.
How Can We Blame Skylar Peterson, Vivian Foxx, Former Chairs Matia Powell and Ellen Angelico?
Last week, there was a Special Called Metro Council Committe: Public Facilities, Arts & Culture meeting to get to the bottom of this grants chaos. To his credit, Director Singh began to take responsibility for why grants have not been paid and an explanation was given.
There was also significant amount of discussion on the complaint filed with the Metro Human Relations Commission (MHRC). In his comments, MHRC Director Davie Tucker says “When all this came up, you had two Chairs stepped down almost back-to-back.”
My immediate question was: Okay, so now we are blaming former Chairs Matia Powell and Ellen Angelico for the operational dysfunction at Metro Arts??? cool. cool.
Side Note: Director Tucker has made other statements that make me question whether or not the MHR Department is committed to telling the truth or protecting Director Singh.
For the record, both former Chairs Matia Powell and Ellen Angelico have been supportive of efforts to move Metro Arts funding to more equitable practices. Here’s what Chair Matia Powell said at the August meeting:
Now, I’ve spent 30 hours researching, writing, submitting FOIA requests, talking to people and trying to make sense of all this. And I discovered something. 
The money situation at Metro Arts is funny, Honey.
Show Me the (Metro Arts) Money
A question we should all be asking ourselves is who is Dana Parsons? Because she got paid $102,000 for six months of work.
I imagine a lot more information will come out in the audit.
But Commissioner Will Cheek was onto something when he asked Director Singh about no-bid contracts at the Executive Committee meeting in November.
Also, why is Van Marvalli still on the payroll for 93K per year?
She hasn’t worked at Metro Arts since 2022.
I know this, because I was paid 
$15K for the work I did on her behalf to advance the Arthur Avenue project from May of 2021 to September of 2022.
For all of Director Singh’s talk about equity, it’s not even happening within the Department. While he’s made some improvements, the chaos he’s created far outweighs the progress in my opinion.
One example of that is the resignation of Metro Arts Chair, Matia Powell.
From what I can gather, the chaos boils down to three consistent factors:
- lack of integrity
- dual standards of performance for employees of color
- incongruence with stated values of equity and actual practice
Operational Dysfunction is a Governance Issue
In my experience, there’s a tendency for non-profit boards, Metro Commissions and Council not to want to get involved in operational issues, like staffing.
However, when operational dysfunction continues to impede the basic funtions of the Department— it becomes a governance issue.
For these reasons, Metro Arts Commissioners and Metro Council must act.
Six Fixes for Metro Arts
Based on everything I shared here, there are six things I think need to happen:
- The Metro Arts Commission and Council need to verify everything Director Daniel Singh says. Because he’s demonstrated that he will shift blame and that he cannot be trusted.
- The Metro Arts Commission needs to place Director Singh on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) that codifies the Arts Executive Committee recommendations for:
- improved communication with other Metro departments
- improved collaboration with other Metro departments
- and requires him to take training on HR, Finance and Procurement processes.
- The Metro Arts Commission should reject any request from Director Singh for any increase in delegated authority. At the October meeting, Director Singh said “everytime I try to make a change, HR disagrees, Procurement is disagreeing, Budget disagrees…and it feels like I cannot do a single thing without everything having to be approved by all four Departments.” But we need more transparency at Metro Arts, not less.
- Both Metro Arts Commission and Metro Council’s Facilities, Arts & Culture Committee should request a briefing from Metro Human Resources to hear about the myriad of operational and staff issues that are happening internally at Metro Arts Department.
- All Metro Arts Commission Meetings need to be video recorded and accessible on MNN’s YouTube page. (I asked for this in 2022!)
- We need people to tell the truth. EVERYBODY. Metro Arts Staff, Current Commissioners, Former Commissioners, Artists, Metro Departments and Community Members. There’s a lot of deception and disinformation circling Metro Arts, some coming from well-intentioned(?) sources.
Only the truth will set us free.
My Gauntlet
Earlier this year, the Metro Human Relations released their 2023 IncluCivics Report. In the report, they noted pay disparities and shared how Black/African American employees are the lowest paid.
Sadly, the same thing happens in Hollywood.
This week, we learned how Tariji P. Henson had to audition for her role in The Color Purple, and she may leave acting due to pay disparity and the mental impact of having to always fight. Viola Davis has talked openly about despite being an EGOT, she doesn’t receive the pay she deserves. And Shonda Rhimes left ABC for Netflix for reasons to complex and disrespectful for me to describe here.
So, let me be 100 percent clear.
I don’t want to see ANYTHING in Metro Human Relations reports that remotely blames former Metro Arts Commission Chairs Matia Powell, Ellen Angelico, Office Support Specialist – Vivian Foxx or Finance and Operations Coordinator Skylar Peterson for one iota of the things that are wrong at Metro Arts.
Not while, Ian Myars has collected 112K and “managed” folks while working from Washington State.
Not while, Van Maravilli is listed as making 93K for a job she hasn’t been at for more than 18 months.
And not while, Dana Parsons collected 102K in six months for being a grants manager/facilitator/evaluator/researcher/recruiter/Director Singh’s assistant.
With Love and Accountability,
Simone