About us:
Left Bank is a Nashville-based arts management company devoted to supporting artists and projects that are mission-driven and responsive to communities.
dedicated to:
* managing, supporting, and marketing deeply creative artists, projects and events
* developing projects that are inclusive, diverse, revelatory, which encourage hope, promote peace.
* connecting artists to like-minded presenters and institutions nationally and internationally
* amplifying women's voices in the arts, especially in the south
Our Services:
* artist & project management
* grant-writing and fundraising
* booking
* graphic and web design
* tour marketing & promotion
Photo by Khalid Ali
CARISSa stolting / Artist & Event Management
Carissa Stolting is an artist & event manager, and the founder of Left Bank Artists. In 2014, Stolting designed Left Bank with Grammy award-winning artist and cultural ambassador, Abigail Washburn, with the intent of creating an arts management company that champions artistic integrity and creativity above all. Left Bank has since become the management home to wildly inventive artists like Leyla McCalla, Rachel Grimes, Wu Fei, Uncle Earl, Shane Parish, Ahleuchatistas and more.
Carissa has a passion for producing live events in addition to supporting the growth of artists’ careers. She was the Managing Director of the Big Ears Festival (2018 & 2019) + produced / curated Nashville International Women’s Day (2017), and Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn’s “Circle Round Home” residency (2017), which raised over 30k for Nashville non-profit organizations.
Stolting is a board member of experimental chamber ensemble, chatterbird, The Porch Writers' Collective, Sonosphere, and an advisory board member of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Carissa holds an M.A. in French & Linguistics and was a French Lecturer before she began working in the music industry.
Celine Thackston / Grant-writer & Development Consultant
Celine Thackston is a grant writer and development consultant. A skilled writer, she raised more than three million dollars in the last fiscal year for a range of arts, education, and human services organizations as well as individual artists.
Past and current partnerships include the Nashville Symphony, the Big Ears Festival, Nashville Opera, OZ Arts, End Slavery Tennessee, Second Harvest Food Bank, Youth Empowerment through Arts and Humanities, ALIAS Chamber Ensemble, and others. Beyond assisting arts organizations with grant writing and development strategies, she has helped a number of individual artists, including musicians, composers, and visual artists.
In addition to grant writing, Celine has experience in crafting direct mail appeals, producing focused individual and foundation prospect research, designing advocacy campaigns, and building out annual fundraising plans. She holds a DMA in Music Performance from the University of Oregon, with supporting studies in Arts Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management.