There’s No Place Like OZ Arts

Article Maria Dinoia | Photography Provided

When you hear the word “Oz,” you can’t help but think of things like Dorothy, Emerald City and the wizard. But the Ozgener family has given new meaning to the word with OZ Arts Nashville, a performance and event center for innovative and contemporary art experiences. It’s no secret that Nashville and the surrounding suburbs are growing by leaps and bounds and that means more art and entertainment outlets are finding their way here, too.

Tim Ozgener, President and CEO of OZ Arts says, “We love Nashville. Nashville is a friendly and open minded city, open to all types of people with all types of different backgrounds. We are also blessed to have many wonderful arts organizations in town. We are honored to be able to be contributors to this fertile landscape by bringing contemporary arts in multiple disciplines of performing and visual arts to the city and to the region.”

The Ozgener family, founders of CAO Cigars, sold the cigar business in 2007 and adapted their company’s former headquarters into the contemporary performance and event center that OZ is today. “We had inspiration from similar contemporary arts centers across the country,” says Ozgener. “Particularly, BAM in Brooklyn, Park Avenue Armory, Mass MoCA, PICA in Portland, and Art Basel along with the Miami Design District, where there are a lot of warehouses that have been converted into contemporary arts centers, much like ours. We saw how contemporary arts served as an economic and community development stimulus for those areas and thought, ‘why not Nashville?’

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