The Contributor Partnership

ACT I, SCENE III

The Contributor Partnership

Journal note: April 2019:

We were trying to figure out a better way to tell the stories we were building about present day, new Nashville. We knew in the end it had to be more than just a coffee-table book and an exhibition of photos in a gallery or museum. It had to be something people could encounter easily as they go about their everyday lives.

D. suggested we consider partnering with The Contributor street newspaper. “It is a paper serving the homeless community by giving the homeless the ability to earn documentable income. I can’t think of a better publication to launch our first stories showing that We Are Nashville.”

I can’t think of a better publication to launch our stories

Immediately we saw how fascinating an idea D. had come up with. D. said something to the effect of this: “By printing our stories in their newspaper we could add a whole new dimension of content to their publication and help elevate not only the story of Nashville but the very people distributing this unique newspaper. People who want to learn about the stories we are beginning to tell would be forced to find them in Nashville neighborhoods where the stories are born-and in the hands of people they might typically overlook.”

D. said, “Suddenly a person who might just be donating a little change to these sellers of the street newspaper might instead look up into their face and begin to see these men and women differently, which is exactly what our stories do–enable us to see someone we might have overlooked before.”

So we reached out to The Contributor and this unique partnership was born.

The Contributor

Paper distribution

ACT I, SCENE III

The Contributor Partnership