Mayor Megan Barry signed a proclamation last year officially declaring October 22, as Creatives’ Day in Nashville. Creatives’ Day is a time of recognition dedicated to individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit and passion for innovation. It includes, but is not limited, to musicians, songwriters, visual artists, film art professionals, makers, journalists, photographers, dancers, and creative entrepreneurs living and working in Nashville and surrounding counties.

This year the Creatives Day Committee of Nashville launched it’s first ever ‘Creatives on The Rise’ social media award campaign. The goal of this annual campaign is to honor the Creatives in Nashville and surrounding counties that are rising above their creative counterparts in various industries. Residents of Nashville and surrounding counties nominated their favorite Creative within a two-week time frame. Over 125 names were submitted for consideration, but only 23 Creatives were selected. Each winner will be featured in a YouTube campaign that will highlight their creative process in partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library as well as the Nashville Public Library.

“This annual award is about recognizing those Creatives that continue to bring tremendous value to the Middle Tennessee region,” said Creatives’ Day Chair Brian Sexton. “This campaign is also about breaking up silos and connecting community residents and leaders to our creative community so that we can being to network, problem solve and collaborate together around the issues impacting Nashville.”

This year’s list of ‘Creatives on The Rise’ winners include Lily C. Hansen, Jake Elliott, Omari Booker, Donna Woodley, Katie Wolf, Jamal Jenkins, Michael B. Hicks, Emoni Wilkins, Jason Eskridge, Rashad Rayford, Mic Floss, D’Llisha Davis, Jama Mohamed, Ciona Rouse, Anasa Troutman, Kristen Chapman Gibbons, Kelly Huddleston, Dj Jazz T, Matt Kenigson, Joshua Lewis, Tammy O’Connor, Alyx Walker, Zach and Dorinda Walker.

“I am so incredibly grateful to live in such a supportive city and community. What an inspiration for how things could be if we all cheered one another on instead of always trying to be right. Everything that is wrong with our national government is made right in Nashville’s creative ecosystem,” Lily C. Hansen, journalist and 2017 Creative on The Rise winner, said.