Monthaven Art and Cultural Center

Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center
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Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center
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META AWARDS MAJOR COMMUNITY ACTION GRANT TO MONTHAVEN ARTS AND CULTURAL CENTER IN HENDERSONVILLE, TENN.

Media Inquiries:
Cheryl Strichik: cheryl@monthavenarts.org
(615) 293-3767

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (Mar. 10, 2026) – Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center is making room at its art-making “TABLE” for everyone. That’s because the MACC’s new Technology Access Builds Learning + Engagement (TABLE) initiative has received one of META’s 2026 Community Action Grants. The $30,000 award will help the MACC acquire and implement advanced digital art, animation and AI exploration tools.

“We are grateful to META for joining Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in its mission to make the arts available to everyone,” says Cheryl Strichik, the MACC’s executive director. “With new and advanced technology, Monthaven’s arts education and healing arts programs will become available to more at-risk youth, military veterans suffering from PTSD, and others living in our community.”

Monthaven’s arts education department currently provides instruction to more 1,200 youth, adult and homeschool students every year. In addition, the MACC’s free arts outreach programs provide arts engagement to over 3,500 under-resourced youth and families. An additional 3,072 military veterans, troubled teens and women struggling from trauma receive hope and care through the organization’s various healing arts programs.

Thanks to META’s Community Action Grant, Monthaven is moving forward to replace outdated technology. New tablets, digital pencils, lightboards, 3-D printers and software will assist youth and teens enrolled in digital art, animation, graphic design, robotics, and other classes. Funding will also help the MACC provide virtual access to art-related materials to at-risk youth, military veterans and others who lack access to on-site instruction at Monthaven. Perhaps most importantly, funding will help the MACC integrate artificial intelligence into the creative process.

META’s Gallatin Data Center awarded a dozen Community Action Grants in 2026. Through its Data Center Community Action Grants program, Meta provides funding for nonprofits and schools to support the long-term vitality of Sumner County. META funds projects that address critical community needs by putting technology to use for community benefit, enabling people to build strong, sustainable communities and improving local science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) education.

Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center (MACC) is a jewel-box art museum and education facility housed in one of Tennessee’s most spectacular antebellum mansions. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the MACC has staged exhibitions featuring everything from the ceramic art of Pablo Picasso to the evening gowns of Princess Diana. The artwork of local artists and military veterans are also on frequent display. As an art school, the MACC offers classes to more than 1,200 children and adults each year. The MACC also provides free arts outreach and healing arts to underserved children, families and military veterans. For more information, visit www.monthavenarts.org or call (615) 822-0789.

 

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Robin Willis

HEALING ARTS COORDINATOR

Robin Willis is the MACC’s Healing Arts Coordinator. She also works as the Exhibition and Events Manager and Director of Outreach. Robin has a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Clemson University with a minor in Entrepreneurship. She is a multi-discipline artist with emphasis in writing, mixed media abstract painting, alternative process photography, collage, and book arts and binding. In addition to her art practices, she holds several healing modalities certificates, such as extensive kundalini yoga teacher training and education, Reiki master, systemic family constellation facilitator, and depth psychology-based therapy trainings. As an avid learner, she explores and encourages others in their exploration in art, psyche, and our relationship to the micro and macro worlds within and around us. Influenced by John Muir’s quote, When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe, she fuses art, healing, and organization throughout her work and personal life as a creative-scientist minded person.

Kaylin Warden

Creative Design and Operations Manager

Kaylin Warden serves as the MACC’s Creative Design and Operations Manager. In this post, she oversees the organization’s graphic design work for exhibitions, events and special projects. She also coordinates the MACC’s arts outreach activities and assists with bookkeeping, among other duties. Kaylin, above all, is passionate about the arts. It comes as no surprise, then, that she is now pursuing a master’s degree in art history. When she’s not at the MACC, you can find her reading her favorite books (especially ones dealing with maritime mysteries), cooking, gardening, playing with her cat and two dogs, and cheering for the Nashville Predators.

Ruth Chase

Regional Arts Director
Ruth Chase is the Regional Arts Director of Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center, joining the team in 2023. For Ruth, the job is all about community, bringing people together to uplift and educate artists and art lovers alike. Her role at Monthaven is to strengthen the local artist community and build connections that will enrich Hendersonville and our surrounding communities through art exhibitions, art education, and opportunities for regional artists.
 
Prior to joining Monthaven, Ruth worked in the arts for over 30 years and is a multimedia artist and graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute. Her artistic practice is inquiry-based and engages in community bridge-building. She was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the City of Los Angeles, curated and juried exhibitions, and has taught at the Crocker Art Museum.
 
Ruth was awarded an Artist-in-Residence for Artist Activating Communities through a grant from the California Arts Council for three consecutive years. Her film Belonging screened at both the 18th Annual Nevada City Film Festival and Wild & Scenic Film Festival. She has received the Legendary Female Artist of Venice award, and she has exhibited in The Crocker Kingsley, the Museum of Northern California Art, and the Diego Rivera Gallery at the San Francisco Art Institute. Ruth also continues her work as a Curatorial Consultant and Art director for the Californian Indigenous Research Project, where she has worked with the local tribe since 2018. 
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