The Once & Future Sounds Fund works to improve equity in the music industry by elevating artists from historically marginalized and exploited groups. The Fund will launch two signature programs — The Once & Future Laureate Program and the Once & Future Festival — over the next three years.
Your Song, founded by songwriter and music therapist Kyshona Armstrong, is a collaborative songwriting program that connects performing arts centers, musicians, and artists with vulnerable communities to promote healing and community connectedness.
We Are North Nashville is a two-year multimedia storytelling project. Led by artist, author, activist, and community organizer M. Simone Boyd, with the support of Andrea Tudhope and Steve Haruch, the project has a goal to gather, document, and share wisdom and sacred knowledge from North Nashville community elders to fortify us for the uncertain future ahead. The project will also redistribute wealth via resources raised for the project to community members.
Unmanageable operates the Women's Giving Circle, which provides support for artist mothers in the South who rely on their artmaking as a primary source of income for their families and are in need of restorative time and relief in order to advance their art-making. Funding supports childcare expenses, basic necessities, and other needs. Throughout 2021 and 2022, Women’s Giving Circle fundraising efforts yielded $308,000 in direct individual support and mutual aid for artist mothers!
Unmanageable is the Fiscal Sponsor and Co-Producer of the annual Rancho La Puerta Artist Retreat and Folk Festival in Tecate, Mexico, which includes a wealth of collaborative concerts, artists talks, and spontaneous performances, sharing the power of folk music traditions while focusing on diversity, collaboration and the dissolution of boundaries through creative exchange. Along with Producer, artist and visionary, Amber Rubarth, we are honored to share the beauty and healing power of the Ranch with retreat artists.
Breaking the Thermometer to Hide the Fever is a multidisciplinary performance created by Haitian-American singer-songwriter Leyla McCalla in collaboration with Director Kiyoko McCrae. Breaking The Thermometer explores the legacy of Radio Haiti-Inter, Haiti’s first independent radio station to broadcast news in Haitian Creole—the voice of the people—until the assassination of the station’s founder, Jean Dominque.
Founded by internationally recognized musician, songwriter and producer Amber Rubarth, Cover Crop Music provides community offerings to nourish and deepen people's connection with their local environments through song and story in an immersive experience.
Lovers is a narrative feature film created by writer/director Taylor McFadden. She is known for her award winning short film Loose Ends, experimental films, and music videos. Taylor is passionate about the intersection of music and storytelling, and the film Lovers is a convergence of these two worlds. The story is told from the unique perspective of female artists and musicians, emphasizing the importance of friendship and the value of community. The film touches on suicide and addiction that so often permeates creative culture, with the hope of bringing awareness about the importance of mental health in artistic communities.
Unmanageable is working to provide fundraising and administrative support an exciting new initiative curated by Rhiannon Giddens, which is yet to be formally announced. More details to come!