Artist-Powered ➡ Community-Inspired
It is 2026, and we are finally back on beat! At the end of 2025, we launched our online marketplace for local artists, where artists manage their own virtual galleries. We began with a small group of artists we have worked with since opening our doors in the Gulch in 2021. This group represents a small slice of the larger community we built, and we look forward to welcoming back and expanding both our artists and our art-loving community as our online marketplace continues to grow.
We are also excited to once again share art live and in person! In partnership with the nonprofit SNAP, Art Beat will host First Saturday Art Crawls beginning March 7 and maintain a gallery-style showroom in the SNAP building. Artwork will remain on the walls between crawls and will be available to view by private appointment.
Art Beat is energized by my love for my lifelong home of Nashville, my admiration and respect for the many local artists I know, and the countless more I have yet to meet. I am honored to be part of Nashville’s well-established art community.
Our First Beat
Art Beat opened in the fall of 2021 as a pop-up in the Gulch. Due to COVID, vacant retail spaces were more affordable, and as I grew tired of Amazon and frustrated by Etsy’s no-longer-kept promise of handmade, I found myself revisiting an idea I had carried for years: opening a space similar to the stores I loved growing up in Nashville that were no longer here. Soon into my search, I came across a dream opportunity in one of the hottest areas in the city.
I stayed longer than the six months we initially discussed, but in 2023 the owner of the building was ready to look for a tenant who could pay full retail value for the space—nearly quadruple our rent. You can see it all over Nashville how increasingly difficult it has become for independent businesses to compete, and I knew it was time to think beyond the walls of retail.
Online felt like the right place to hit reset. While Etsy has proven to be a very successful concept, it has grown further from its origins and no longer solves the problems it originally set out to solve as seamlessly. That is where Art Beat steps in—think Etsy, but more curated and local, a marketplace that can be a home for artists 365 days a year.
How Art Beat Works
Artists on Art Beat’s platform manage their own storefronts, giving them the flexibility to manage their inventory. If they sell work elsewhere or are headed to an art show, it’s as easy as removing or hiding inventory—whatever works best for them. The platform also has the potential to benefit artists by providing meaningful data that many other industries already rely on. Without shared insight into what’s being created or how audiences engage, artists often work in isolation, and the importance of community in this aspect should not be overlooked.
Where Art Is From
The heart of Art Beat is Nashville. Most of our artists live and create right here or in nearby neighborhoods and surrounding counties, with others from around Tennessee. From time to time, we will also feature a gift or artwork from outside the state when it adds something that feels right for our collection. We share who created each piece and where it was made, so you always know exactly who you are supporting.
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