The Scarritt Bennett Stage

Located at the NEW Centennial Park Event Pavilion
(on the North side of Park close to free parking in the HCA lots on Park Plaza)

As the inaugural guest of the new state-of-the-art Event Pavilion in Centennial Park, and in honor of the Festival’s 30th Anniversary, Scarritt Bennett Center celebrates the origins of Celebrate Nashville Cultural Festival, once called Celebration of Cultures. The Festival had its beginnings at Scarritt Bennett 30 years ago and the event was designed to honor our predecessor, Scarritt College, which trained hundreds of men and women for service in Asia, Africa and Europe. Understanding, honoring and welcoming people’s cultures across the world was an important part of their education and the legacy lives on today.
 

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

10:30 AM

Nashville Chamber Music

The Nashville Chamber Music Society is a group of musicians dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music in Nashville and the surrounding areas.

11:15 AM

Hadley Park Line Dancers

All races, ages and levels line dance to different genres of music.

11:45 AM

Jefferson Furtado Latin

Latin Music

12:30 PM

Sankofa

African Dance & Drum

1:00 PM

Yuri Rodriguez

Hispanic Music

2:00 PM

Tennessee Indigenous Women-Circle

Storytelling

3:00 PM

Indian Culture Fashion Show

Fashion show highlighting tradional garments worn in India

4:00 PM

W. Crim Singers

A versatile ensemble, major emphasis is placed on the Negro Spiritual, African American operatic and concert repertoire, hymnody, and anthems. The W. Crimm Singers boasts a roster of over 70 artists.

5:00 PM

Nashville African American Wind Symphony

The Nashville African American Wind Symphony is dedicated to artistic excellence, cultural representation, and community connection through the performance of wind symphony music.NAAWS exists to elevate diverse voices within classical and symphonic music while creating powerful, accessible musical experiences that engage audiences across Nashville and beyond.

CELEBRATION OF CULTURES HISTORY
In 1995 Scarritt-Bennett Center recognized a need within the rapidly growing and changing Nashville community. The population was becoming more diversified and people were in need of ways to under stand and appreciate each other’s differences. The Celebration of Cultures was established to provide an avenue for different cultures to share their traditions through music, dance, activities, food, and crafts. The popular multi-cultural festival became an annual event held on the Scarritt Bennett Center campus, attracting 5,000 people from the sur rounding neighborhoods each summer.
For the next nine years the festival, which was held at Scarritt Bennett Center on 19th & Grand every year in July, continued to grow with the needs of the community. After many years, however, the festival become too large for the Scarritt Bennett Center grounds, and, wanting to truly incorporate the community by providing the event free of charge, Scarritt Bennett skipped a year to plan a different location, time, and include a new partner, Nashville Metro Parks & Recreation.
On October 6, 2006, 15,000 people from the Nashville area witnessed the rebirth of a new Celebration of Cultures at its new location in Centennial Park. The festival reached out to over 30 cultures and through dance, music, visual arts, a children’s area, and exotic food samplings. As a community we were introduced to our neighbors.
The original mission of Celebration of Cultures was to celebrate and embrace cultural diversity through respecting, understanding, and appreciating the cultures of the Greater Nashville population. Today, the tradition continues. Although it is now called Celebrate Nashville, it continues each year as an annual event that provides a spectacular interaction of our unique diversity and an exciting awareness and education of who we are as Nashville people.
Scarritt Bennett Center is a nonprofit conference, retreat, and educational center in Nashville, TN, with a mission to create space for individuals and groups to engage with one another to achieve a more just world. It is a place for people to connect, celebrate, explore, grow, dine, and give back to the community. An oasis in the heart of Nashville, the10-acre campus began as the School for Christian Workers over 100 years ago. Today, they carry on that legacy through our work in Racial Justice, Women’s Empowerment, Spiritual Formation, and Transformative Education. LEARN MORE