Kindling Arts is Nashville's radically unique independent arts incubator. Founded in 2018, Kindling exists to embrace exciting original and experimental artistic experiences developed outside existing institutions.

With an emphasis on innovative process, the Kindling Arts Festival is a multi-day annual event that showcases interdisciplinary collaborations in surprising spaces, defying genre and cultivating authentic new aesthetics. The Festival empowers diverse local performers with the space and supporting resources required to take daring creative risks and explore challenging ideas.

NEW + UPCOMING

HEROIC COUPLETS

12 Poetry into Film Collaborations

A co-presentation with Defy Film Festival 

A unique cross-genre collaboration, Heroic Couplets pairs 12 local poets with 13 local filmmakers to create cinematic works based on individual poems, mostly written in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. The diverse list of participating artist includes poets  Ciona Rouse, Meg Wade, Dan Hoy, and Alora Young, and filmmakers Drew Maynard, Sophia Gordon, Angell Foster, and John Warren. 

Special thanks to OZ Arts Nashville for hosting the premiere screenings on May 7-8, 2021!

SEVEN

Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva

Developed in partnership with Fashion is for Every Body, Women of Color Collaborative, and abrasiveMedia

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SEVEN is a unique interdisciplinary performance film project that confronts the intersection of Blackness and Fatness through the lens of the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Heavenly Virtues. By tackling these often marginalized topics through her personal experiences, renowned local actress and writer Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva opens the field to discuss issues of mental health, sexual health, and spirituality that uniquely relate to Black women. SEVEN is currently in development, including several community engagement events throughout Spring 2021.

Upcoming Public Panel + Sneak Peek: Thursday, June 10th at 7pm CT

This project is funded, in part, by a Metro Nashville Arts Commission THRIVE grant.