The 2025 Soundwaves Gallery: THE HE(ART) OF NASHVILLE at GEODIS Park is a collection featuring 44 pieces by 44 local artists celebrating the people, stories, and community spirit at the core of Nashville’s identity as a uniquely creative city. In partnership with the Nashville Soccer Club (NSC), the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville issued a public call for art receiving submissions of 196 different artworks by 76 artists. The selected pieces were carefully chosen by NSC and the Arts & Business Council in collaboration with the three-person curatorial committee. We are truly grateful to these local curatorial experts for lending their time and talent to bring this opportunity to local Nashville artists and to bring this year’s gallery to life!
Amanda H. Hellman, PhD, is the director of the Vanderbilt University Museum of Art. Previously she was the curator of African art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University. Her exhibitions include And I Must Scream (2022); Strata: an installation by Shannon Collis (2021); Press Here (2021); Between the Sweet Water and the Swarm of Bees (2016); and Southern Connections: Bearden in Atlanta (2014). Amanda’s recent book, The Making of Museums in Nigeria: Kenneth C. Murray and Heritage Preservation in Colonial West Africa (2023) explores museum development in West Africa and how heritage formation and artistic practice are inextricably linked. Other publications include, And I Must Scream: the monstrous expression of our global crises (2022), “Die and Do: Egungun as a form of resistance and recovery,” in Visible Man: Fahamu Pecou (2018).
Michael J. McBride, a native Tennessean, earned his undergraduate degree in art, from Tennessee State University and his graduate degree in painting from Illinois State University, where he credits the late Dr. Harold Gregor with providing a world class artistic mentorship. His commitment to the Nashville art world’s future has always been at the forefront of his own career. Michael is a tenured faculty member at Tennessee State University Art and Design department, member of The Arts in the Airport Board, W.O. Smith Music school board, Arts Bellevue board member, a member of South Arts southern artist registry, Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center board and former founding member of the Board of Trustees for the Frist Museum in Nashville.
Michael Mitchell (aka mikewindy) is the Art Education Coordinator at Tennessee State University, an Arcade Arts resident, and member of the Educators Cooperative. He is the founder and manages the Little Free Skateshop at TSU and McGavock High School where he cofounded The Museum of Contemporary Art at McGavock Active Collaborative/Community/Collective a community museum without walls. mikewindy is the founder and host of the Drawing South podcast. Drop by #63 at the Arcade or connect with him @mikewindyart.
The Soundwaves Gallery is located in the VIP Suites Corridor at GEODIS Park and will be open throughout the NSC Season to suite ticket holders and their guests all season long. The gallery is open to stadium guests during Stadium Tours as well.
Anyone can browse and purchase the artwork right now through the Online Gallery Shop!.