Pride takes financial challenges head-on
Following Get OUT, Get LOUD: A Benefit for Nashville Pride at Marathon Music Works, Nashville Pride announces that the Save Nashville Pride campaign has raised $145,000. To date, nearly 1,000 individuals have made individual contributions to support the future of Pride in Nashville. These contributions provide the financial means necessary for the non-profit to advance its mission of visibility, celebration, and community impact across Middle Tennessee.
Although Nashville Pride still faces a financial shortfall from the 2025 season, this progress gives the organization the momentum to move forward and start envisioning the future of Pride in Nashville. Additionally, with community support and renewed commitments totaling $150,000 toward next year’s Festival and Parade, Nashville Pride can continue working to sustain LGBTQ+ visibility and keep the community connected and seen.
Get OUT, Get LOUD benefit for Pride is a success
Sunday’s benefit concert featured musical guests Brooke Eden, Shelly Fairchild, Chris Housman, Angie K, Meghan Linsey, Molly Grace, Adam Mac, Autumn Nicholas, The Kentucky Gentlemen, Katie Pruitt, and Sam Williams. These performers, alongside drag artists Bianca Fuego, Delta Granta, Kennedy Ann Scott, Perplexity, Nece Sexton, Jaxson Stone, and Vanity, united hundreds of community supporters determined to sustain Nashville’s LGBTQ+ legacy.
The funds raised at the benefit concert hosted at Marathon Music Works will support operational continuity, community programming, and planning for the 2026 Nashville Pride Festival and Parade. Together with the funds being raised through the ongoing Save Nashville Pride campaign, the organization looks to a sustainable future.
The first Nashville Pride Parade was officially organized in June 1988, but pride events in the city of Nashville date back more than 50 years.
Pride seeks ongoing community support and input
“We had a goal to help secure the future of Nashville Pride,” said the Nashville Pride Board of Directors in a recent press release. “What we achieved together is nothing short of monumental — all built by and for this community. Community builds community, and the funds raised will help sustain our historic festival and ensure Nashville’s LGBTQ+ community continues to have a space to be authentically and vulnerably themselves.”
Indeed, Nashville Pride plans to engage directly with the community to reimagine what Pride can look like in the years ahead by listening to feedback, identifying needs, and designing future festivals that reflect and serve Nashville’s diverse LGBTQ+ community. Despite historic setbacks, the organization sees this moment as an opportunity to strengthen its purpose, deepen its impact, and ensure it remains a true celebration of and for its community.
However, the campaign, launched on August 20, 2025, remains short of its $250,000 goal by October 11 (which coincides with National Coming Out Day). To donate, please visit the Save Nashville Pride website.