To walk into the Village Cultural Arts Center is to sense anticipation. It s like the backstage of a theater, with props, costumes and mirrors everything needed to produce a play of life as an African-American in Nashville. After school and into the evenings, children swarm the building on Charlotte Pike for dance and drum classes, taekwando, computer labs, tutoring, drama and Afro-centric studies.
Adults take classes, too.
But it s as much about what happens in the atmosphere as it is about tangible reality. Here, kids are parented by staff, volunteers and others in ways they may not be at home. Girls are corrected if skirts are too short or clothes too tight. And come report card day, children know they ll be asked by every adult to show how they ve done. This fall, the Village was chosen to receive a grant from The Tennessean s 21st Century Trust, a collaboration between the newspaper and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.