David Guido, Sandra Lee Chandler, Samantha Zaruba, and Sarah Budeski received the evening’s top awards.
David Guido, Sandra Lee Chandler, Samantha Zaruba, and Sarah Budeski received the evening’s top awards.
On September 9, Nashville’s creative and business communities gathered at OZ Arts Nashville to celebrate the 2026 Periscope Pitch + Artist Entrepreneur Showcase, the culmination of this year’s Periscope: Artist Entrepreneur Training.
The event showcased the work, ideas, and creative businesses of the 2026 Periscope cohort, awarding four artist entrepreneurs a combined total of more than $10,000 in cash and prizes.
The evening began with the Artist Entrepreneur Showcase, where guests browsed the cohort’s displays, met the artists, and learned more about their work and business plans. The showcase created opportunities for artists to connect with business leaders, community members, fellow creatives, and potential collaborators before the live Pitch program began.
Eight finalists then took the stage to pitch their creative businesses before a live audience. The competition was hosted by Jill McMillan Palm, Executive Director of the Arts + Business Council.
After each presentation, a panel of three expert judges asked questions and offered feedback. Pitches were scored on business acumen, artistic excellence, and presentation effectiveness. This year’s judges were:
Audience members also played a role in selecting the winners, voting for both their favorite business pitch and their favorite showcase display.
David Guido: Spire Pitch Perfect Award
David Guido received the evening’s highest honor, the Spire Pitch Perfect Award, earning $2,500 in cash plus prizes.
David is the artist and designer behind Well Lit Woods, a Nashville-based studio creating luminary sculptures that integrate the warmth and soul of nature into modern living. Drawing on a degree in industrial design and a decade of experience in high-precision manufacturing, David builds glueless, interlocking forms designed to create spaces that feel calming and grounding.
Beyond the studio, David is an active member of the Arts + Business Council, Tennessee Craft, and The Forge, where he shares his expertise in digital fabrication through education and collaboration.
Sandra Lee Chandler earned The Tremaine Foundation Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award, receiving $2,000 in cash plus prizes.
Sandra is a contemporary fiber artist who creates large-scale art quilts from repurposed denim and reclaimed textiles, stitching poetry and cultural history into every piece. After four decades of teaching and raising four children, she now leads workshops and lectures that welcome everyone from first-time stitchers to seasoned makers.
Her narrative quilts are created for the wall, inviting viewers to stop, read, and spend time with the stories held within each work.
Samantha Zaruba: Community Choice Award
Samantha Zaruba received the Community Choice Award, earning the most audience votes in support of her business pitch and receiving $1,500 in cash plus prizes.
Samantha is the founder of Paint Your Noodz, an award-winning art empowerment experience that uses nude figure painting to foster body acceptance, creativity, and connection. Through at-home kits and live workshops, Paint Your Noodz transforms traditional paint-and-sip culture into a space for vulnerability, embodiment, and self-expression.
Through both her studio practice and Paint Your Noodz, Samantha creates art experiences that challenge shame, spark dialogue, and reconnect people to their creative power.
Sarah Budeski earned the Southwest Airlines Best in Showcase Award for her impactful creative business display, receiving $1,500 in cash plus prizes.
Sarah is a Nashville-based letterpress printer, designer, and illustrator. By day, she works as a Designer/Printer at Hatch Show Print, creating custom letterpress posters. She recently launched Bitter Root Press, a small letterpress studio specializing in custom stationery and live printing experiences. In addition to their individual awards, all four winners received a membership to the Nashville Entrepreneur Center and a round-trip flight voucher for two from Southwest Airlines to help further their creative businesses.
The entire 2026 Periscope: Artist Entrepreneur Training cohort was honored during a graduation ceremony before guests returned to the Artist Entrepreneur Showcase for another opportunity to connect with the artists and celebrate their accomplishments.
The 2026 cohort includes, listed alphabetically by first name:
Alita Brielle Gay (Drama/Theatre/Performance Art, Literary Arts, Voice Over), Azriel Dennison (Multi-Disciplinary, Music), Cameron Kemp (Visual Art), Chandler Mitchell (Multi-Disciplinary, Bespoke Furniture), Dave Isaacs (Music), David Guido (Visual Art), Emily Taubman (Visual Art), Haley Bagwell (Culinary Art, Visual Art), Jenna Marotta (Music), Jennifer Carland (Visual Art), Keith Benion (Film/Television), Kenieha Boren (Drama/Theatre/Performance Art, Literary Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Public Art/Creative Placemaking, Visual Art), Kymberlee Stanley (Visual Art), Rhiannon Guppy (Visual Art), Richard Isaac Griggs (Visual Art), Riley Lazuli (Music, Visual Art, Self-Development), Rob Wilbanks (Visual Art), Robert “Mangoe” Jones (Multi-Disciplinary, Visual Art), Roselle Rodríguez Vallejo (Visual Art), Samantha Zaruba (Visual Art), Sandra Lee Chandler (Fashion/Textiles), Sarah Budeski (Visual Art), Sarah Saeed (Visual Art), and Wil Merrell (Drama/Theatre/Performance Art, Multi-Disciplinary, Music).
Congratulations to the award recipients and the entire 2026 Periscope cohort!
Periscope: Artist Entrepreneur Training is a program of the Arts + Business Council of Greater Nashville, originally created in partnership with the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, Metro Arts: Nashville’s Office of Arts + Culture, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Mayor’s Office of Economic & Community Development.
Periscope is presented by Amazon, with program support provided by Spire, Southwest Airlines, The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and the Tennessee Entertainment Commission. Additional operating support for the Arts + Business Council is provided by the Tennessee Arts Commission, Metro Arts, Ingram Charities, The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, NWI Nashville, HCA Healthcare Foundation, Mike Curb and Curb Records, and the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University.
