Choreographed Fountains Coming To Music Row Roundabout

Image Used Courtesy of Wet Design / Nashville Mayor’s Office.

The Music Row roundabout and Owen Bradley Park will be enhanced with three choreographed fountains by November 2017.

Plans for the project were revealed at a press conference on Thursday (Feb. 25) at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP Nashville office, in the Roundabout Plaza, overlooking the Musica statue.

The water features will include fountains that encircle Musica, an interactive fountain for children in adjacent Owen Bradley Park, and a fountain built into the median strip cascading along 17th Avenue. No musical interaction is planned.

Southern California company WET Design has been enlisted for the project. WET Design’s work include the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas, the Sochi Winter Olympic Games’ Olympic Cauldron in Russia, The Dubai Fountain and the fountain at New York City’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Designed by local artist Alan LeQuire, Musica was revealed in 2003. Its nine bronze statues, topping 38 feet, represent muses of the arts and creativity. It is considered to be the largest bronze figure group in the United States. However, at the time it was unveiled, funding was not available for the fountains that were incorporated into the original design.

Image Used Courtesy of Wet Design / Nashville Mayor’s Office.

The announcement coincides with a fundraising initiative from The Fountains of Musica Foundation, led by songwriter Desmond Child and board president Andrée LeQuire.

“An important part of the project is taking care of its ongoing maintenance, so as a nonprofit board, we are seeking community support to build the fountains and create a maintenance fund,” Andrée LeQuire said. “The estimated total for the entire project of three fountains and ongoing maintenance is $10 million and we are working in cooperation with multiple Metro departments for its installation. Generous private contributions have made the procurement of WET’s design possible. Now our website has an easy donation process; donations big and small are essential to complete this exciting project.”

Teresa Powell-Caldwell, senior vice president at WET said, “WET unleashes the magic of water and nature’s other elements to create shared experiences of movement, light, and emotion that reconnect us with our world, our senses, and each other. Collaborating with the board and Alan LeQuire to transform his magnificent sculpture into an evocative kinetic experience based on our expertise in this area was a rewarding artistic endeavor for WET, which we hope in turn will enrich the lives of those who experience the Fountains of Musica. We thank you all for trusting us achieve your vision in designing an experience that further evokes the creativity bursting from Nashville’s historic Music Row.”

Caldwell also explained the reasoning behind using Owen Bradley Park in the plans. “We know that people are going to be drawn to this feature,” she said. “So we needed to provide a place for them to look at it that is not in the street or crowded around for a photo opportunity.”

“This journey began a little over two years ago when I met the LeQuires, who were parents at our kids’ school,” recalled Child. “That’s when I found out that it wasn’t finished. It was missing these gushing, gorgeous waters. Then the whole thing made sense to me, and it was one of those things that I had to try to make it happen. This city so deserves it.”

“It was one of our first pieces of public art here in Nashville,” said Mayor Megan Barry. “When public and private come together, this is what we can do that is really special.”

“In all of the world, people go towards the location that has motion and activity,” said Andrée LeQuire. “These three fountains with water and lights will put a pulse in the entire neighborhood.”

An official website with links to donate is available at fountainsofmusica.org.

Quick Facts

$10 million, including maintenance endowment
Design and engineering promises “not one drop of water will fall on a car”
Lighting will enable 24/7 viewing
Fountain will scale down depending on wind, weather conditions, traffic and viewership
Owen Bradley Park will provide viewers a photo opportunity
Mayor Barry has stated, “My goal is to make sure traffic is always flowing” through construction
Opening expected in November 2017