Petition to: Every person who calls Nashville home, our Mayor, the Metro Nashville Council, Tennessee's elected leaders, and Nashville's business and philanthropic community.

On September 28, 2026, the Nashville Symphony declared a financial emergency, and is suspending the rest of its 2026–27 season. After the October 16–17 concerts, all 77 musicians and 27 full-time staff will be furloughed. The organization faces a $10 million deficit and has run out of cash. No date has been set for the music to return.

The Nashville Symphony has played for this city since 1946. It has grown into a GRAMMY-winning orchestra, and its home, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, is one of the finest concert halls in the country. Losing it would be a cultural tragedy for Nashville, and it's happening in the city the world calls Music City.

This isn't only about the Symphony. It's about the future of Nashville:

For more than a century, Nashville has called itself the Athens of the South. The name reflects our devotion to learning, to the arts and to civic life. We built a full-scale replica of the Parthenon to say so, and it still stands in Centennial Park. How can we keep that name if we let our orchestra go silent?

Nashville is changing fast. Major employers like Amazon and Oracle are arriving, along with new residents and investment. When Nashville decided a new stadium mattered, our leaders found a way. They created a new hotel tax and a dedicated revenue district, and they secured a $500 million state contribution. Together, those produced $1.26 billion in public support. We're asking for that same creativity and resolve for the arts. If we can build pathways for a football stadium, we can build them for an orchestra that has served this city for 80 years. This isn't sports against the arts. It's a question of what we believe is essential.

So much of our energy goes into tourism, and tourism also matters. But Nashville is not only a place for people to visit, use and leave. It's a home. The people who live here, work here and raise families here deserve a city that invests in them, including in its music, its arts and its humanities.

World-class cities have world-class arts. The companies we're courting, and the people they hire, choose cities where culture is alive. The same is true for the families who have been here for generations. They've watched Nashville change around them, and for many, staying has gotten harder. A city keeps its people by giving them reasons to stay. Nashville should still feel like it belongs to the people who built it. The arts are one of the ways a city says, this is still your home. 

This is about our children and our community:

Our children deserve to grow up feeling the power of a live orchestra. They deserve music education and the chance to picture a life in the arts. They deserve the kind of shared experience that brings strangers together in one room. Once an institution like this goes quiet, it is very hard to bring back. 

This can't rest on a few shoulders:

The Symphony's own leaders have said it relied too heavily on the generosity of a single donor. Lasting support has to come from many people, not a few. That means everyone has a part to play. There is no simple solution, and we're not claiming to have the answers, but we are calling on everyone:

• Mayor O'Connell, the Metro Council and state leaders to create real pathways for public funding and partnership, and to treat the arts as essential city infrastructure.
• Businesses, especially those moving to or growing in Nashville, to invest in the cultural life of the city they now call home.
• Philanthropists and foundations to help steady the Symphony now and build an endowment that lasts.
• All of us to show up. Sign and share this petition. Call or email your Metro Council member. Give whatever you're able, because even $10 counts. Turn unused tickets into a donation. Attend the final concerts, and become a subscriber when the music returns.

You don't need to be wealthy or connected to make a difference! As supporters and members of the artistic community, we hope this sparks a greater conversation to celebrate all art forms and invest in the future culture of Nashville: our music, our art, our parks, our neighborhoods. 

Give to the Nashville Symphony

Sign this petition to show Nashville's leaders how much this city values its orchestra and the arts. Share in the comments what the Symphony has meant to you. 

"It is the artists of the world, the feelers and the thinkers who will ultimately save us; who can articulate, educate, defy, insist, sing and shout the big dreams.” - Leonard Bernstein